Entitlement on the (almost) high seas

While reading the case study “The oil rig” of chapter six, I was struck how this parallels everyday life in corporate America, and probably corporate everywhere else too.
The author of the case study makes some effort to elude that the treatment of the Angolans on the rig is based on race or culture, but in reality it is not unlike the treatment of the majority of office workers in the US today.

We see that the Angolan workers have substandard accommodation, diet and medical treatment when compared to their expatriate counter parts. This is no different in the United States. This can be seen when comparing blue collar workers or lower level white collar workers to company executives. Executive have access to more spacious and comfortable offices, while office workers more often than not make do in cramped open plan work areas. When travel is required, executives will have access to business class and non execs settle for economy. Lack of adequate health care is a reality for millions of American workers, while executives do have access to health care. The list of perquisites for executives go on and on.

Entitlement theory tells us that the acquisition of holdings or things is acceptable if the acquisition has been fair and just. The author does not expand on the skill level and training of the Angolans, but is making the assumption that they are less skilled than the expats a stretch? I think not. The expats are needed by the oil companies to perform their work and their preferential treatment are part of their renumeration. Many of them could potentially acquire another well paying job in the US and would possibly not work on the rig otherwise.

The Angolans come from a different environment. Angola has just been through a civil war which cost more than 500,000 lives with millions of people displaced. Additionally, the Angolan GDP is little over $2,000 per year, and with unemployment at around 30% and literacy at little over 40%, work on an oil rig present an attractive option.

The Angolan authorities are right to look the other way at the difference in standards on the rig. It is in line with the author looking the other way when he/she could be considering the standard of living of the Angolans on the rig and the ones off the rig.