Marking time

After that we were grounded because the drilling contractors flatly refused to have us on their oil rigs and we marked time in the training department doing stuff like defensive driving courses, breathing apparatus, fire fighting, first aid and swimming courses. Most of which were only indirectly related to the job. Some of us were eventually assigned to Deutag heavy land rig in the Baram area, Tudan and also Pujut corner to work as mud technicians on the land rig. Since there were more trainees than rigs available, some of us were told to clear our annual leave while the remaining ones were sent to England to do courses in steam plant technology.[12]

It did not seem right. After more than 5 years working on the rigs as nothing more than rough necks really, we could see clearly that the training programme was leading nowhere. Eric Wong with our support and encouragement wrote a letter to Petronas to report on the slow progress and explain the frustrations we felt about our training. Petronas jumped on Shell. The end result was, Peter Fletcher, training department head, got the sack! The blame culture in Shell was strong and healthy and he was blamed for it when it was not his fault at all. Every body knew that! It was company’s policy not to finish the training for drillers. They have no use for them!

Jan Martijnse, the head tool pusher in charge of our training, was angry with us for blowing the whistle on Shell. Because he had 6 more months to retirement, he told us not to rock the boat or write any more letters. We agreed, and to buy our silence he rewarded us all with a promotion from JG8 to JG7! Eric Wong, our leader and spokesman was also given another ungpow, a two year scholarship to go to study in England! He came back with a diploma in steam plant technology![13] To camouflage this clever move, Shell also sent Joseph and Michael to London with Eric for a holiday. The three Foochows all came back with their diplomas in steam plant technology and what happened? They demanded for more money! By that time, I was working as a buyer/stock analyst, with Benjamin Kaboy in Materials Department. This was no longer my concern.