We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, prosperous New Year!!!!

VPP: What Is It?

VPP is an OSHA based safety program that requires all sides to voluntarily join and accept one another. USW local 13-555 along with the LCMC ( i.e. ConocoPhillips' Lake Charles Refinery and Excel) are working toward becoming an OSHA approved VPP Star site.

The local took the lead on VPP from the beginning. Local leadership has, for many years seen VPP as an important aspect of attaining a better/safer workplace at the LCMC. VPP is a partnership, in our case, between the LCMC, USW local 13-555 and OSHA.

For years there have been complaints that the company would, at times, talk the talk but not walk the walk. Since VPP is voluntary and all sides have to agree with membership, it will mean that talk and walk will have to be the same.

VPP is not a magic bullet and it will not create utopia on earth, but it will help improve the work and safety conditions at the LCMC. We have a union representative, James Gallier, leading the VPP efforts at LCMC. If you have questions about VPP, let James know what it is or ask in the comment section below this post.

More to come,

Who is Gary Beevers: National Oil Bargaining

Gary Beevers is the man leading in our National Oil Bargaining efforts.

You can learn more about Gary HERE.

Thanks.

Union Members on Refinery Joint Health and Safety Committee

Every month members of the Joint Healthy and Safety Committee (JH&SC) meet to discuss issues on "Health and Safety." The JH&SC met today from 8:00 to 4:00 in the Large Safety Conference Room. The committee is made up of company and union representatives.

This note is to inform our members (in case some of you don't know) who the hourly workers are that make up the union representation on the JH&SC. Your representatives on this committee Leon Royer, RC Fontenot, Ted Allen, Scott Pruitt, James Gallier and Kenith Andry.

Take a moment to talk to these members, find out more about what the JH&SC is about and what doing for our members.

Thanks

The Oil Worker

Below are links to The Oil Worker, a newsletter for those of us working in the oil industry. The third issue (Dec. 2008) can be viewed by clicking on the first link below.

Dec. 2008

July-August 2008

June 2008

Your comments and questions are welcome.

N.O.B. has begun.

The up coming year will be a big one for us because we are again in contract negotiations. National Oil Bargaining is already started and some of our co-workers in other ConocoPhillips refineries have already begun talking about local issues.

Discussions of local issues will begin next year. We plan to keep our members informed on issues here and by way of email.

Here is a little more information about National Oil Bargaining.

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Union Density and National Oil Bargaining

National Bargaining has benefited oil workers, union and non-union, even though the latter aren’t involved in the process. It has also given oil companies labor stability.

Labor unions represent workers who process 77% of all throughput in the United States. The USW represents a huge majority of those workers. Union density is defined as the percentage of union representation within an industry or a company.

*77% UNION DENSITY*

There are still issues that oil workers everywhere have to fight for to make them change. We have a 77% chance of being powerful enough to be successful. Every time we increase our union density, we build power to deal more effectively with the most powerful corporations in the
world.

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Check out another link on National Oil Bargaining HERE.

Launching a new information blog for our members.

We are once again contract negotiations time. National oil bargaining began in 1965. You can read the history of National Oil Bargaining by clicking on this link: National Oil Bargaining.

We hope you will check this blog regularly. It is just one of the ways that we will be using to keep our members informed.

Don't forget our next meeting 7:00 PM Tuesday December 9, 2008.

Thanks,