As most of you are aware, there is a very serious situation pertaining to contract negotiations for our brothers and sisters at the Ponca City Refinery. Our fellow union members in Ponca City have been working in a "rolling 24" situation since March 31st of this year when their current contract was due to expire. Although meetings do continue on a sporadic basis, with the assistance of a Federal Mediator, there does not seem to be any progress being made between the company and union negotiators.
There are two very serious issues all union members should be concerned with on the table in Ponca City.
1. Fatigue Policy-the company is insisting on language giving them the right to implement a fatigue policy during the contract without the union having the right to strike. This issue was on the table at all ConocoPhillips sites, which were on date for February 1st. The company had removed this issue from the table when it appeared it would be handled as a NOBP item. This failed to happen so it has popped up at Ponca. The company has known since the BP Amaco explosion in Texas City, that fatigue would someday be an issue (fatigue on the part of the operators due to working an extended period of time was cited by the Baker Panel as a cause of the explosion). ConocoPhillips has had, since 2005, time to write their fatigue policy and be ready for negotiations. Their failure to do so should not lead to midterm implementation.
2. Direct Hire for Maintenance-I don't know the details of the proposal for this issue. What I do know is that any language changed on how you hire to staff positions should be looked at very carefully. Any changes in this area could lead to changes on language affecting how employees would move in the event of cutbacks or layoffs. That makes this a VERY SERIOUS issue. While our negotiations here in Lake Charles are going well at this early date the company does have proposals much like this on their list here.
Due to this serious situation, we will be informing the company next week to be prepared to increase our dues. As you should remember, after the contract negotiations in 2002, the sites belonging to the CONOCOPHILLIPS NATION WIDE COUNCIL voted to have a fifty-dollar strike assessment to support any of our groups involved in a work stoppage. We invoked this once for a site on strike against Penrico (a ConocoPhillips joint venture) following the 2006 contract extensions.
While we certainly hope the company will begin meaningful negotiations with the group in Ponca City, and any strike by our brothers and sisters can be avoided, we wanted to take this opportunity to keep you informed of the steps we are taking should our members have to strike.
As you should know, what happens at one site often moves to the others. I encourage all of you to stand strong in support of Ponca as they are very likely fighting our fight.
Leon Royer
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday 21 May
Yesterday, we spent much of the day discussing items banked holidays and purchased vacation. We have a tentative agreements on this items. We are planning special meetings to discuss these items with the members in the near future.
Today, we spent today at the hall going over items, working on lab issues, and getting ready for next weeks discussions.
Here is a link to the initial lists given by us (here) and by the company (here). I hope you will go over both proposals and let us know what you think.
I highly recommend all our people read this article from the Ponca blog. Our brothers and sisters at Ponca still do not have a contract, so please continue to keep them in prayer.
More later,
Today, we spent today at the hall going over items, working on lab issues, and getting ready for next weeks discussions.
Here is a link to the initial lists given by us (here) and by the company (here). I hope you will go over both proposals and let us know what you think.
I highly recommend all our people read this article from the Ponca blog. Our brothers and sisters at Ponca still do not have a contract, so please continue to keep them in prayer.
More later,
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Negotiations Today
I sent out an email discussing today's negotiations. Several "tentative" items were agreed to and signed off on today. We still have a long way to go, but we did make good headway today.
Tomorrow, we hope to start posting specific items, such as the company's list and our list of issues we want to discuss. We also plan to post the "tentative" agreements that we settle on. That way everyone can be familiar with what is happening, so that we can discuss them intelligently and make informed decisions.
Check back soon.
Tomorrow, we hope to start posting specific items, such as the company's list and our list of issues we want to discuss. We also plan to post the "tentative" agreements that we settle on. That way everyone can be familiar with what is happening, so that we can discuss them intelligently and make informed decisions.
Check back soon.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Local Negotiations Have Started
Hey Folks,
Your negotiating committee met with the company today. We exchanged lists of items that each side would like to see come out of these negotiations. After the exchange, the company briefly went through the items on their list, giving a short explanation of each point. When they were finished, we did the same with the items on our list.
There were a number of points where the company and the union have similar interest, so these items should be easy to take care of. Other issues on the two lists have been mostly hammered out in the discussions that have already taken place, and we hope to put them to rest tomorrow. Of course, there are also some issues that may be more difficult to deal with to settle, so keep your representatives in your prayer.
I will try to send out briefs often and I will be providing greater detail when that is possible.
Thanks,
Your negotiating committee met with the company today. We exchanged lists of items that each side would like to see come out of these negotiations. After the exchange, the company briefly went through the items on their list, giving a short explanation of each point. When they were finished, we did the same with the items on our list.
There were a number of points where the company and the union have similar interest, so these items should be easy to take care of. Other issues on the two lists have been mostly hammered out in the discussions that have already taken place, and we hope to put them to rest tomorrow. Of course, there are also some issues that may be more difficult to deal with to settle, so keep your representatives in your prayer.
I will try to send out briefs often and I will be providing greater detail when that is possible.
Thanks,
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tonight's Meeting
We had an interesting meeting tonight.
We learned that Ponca is still on rolling 24's. They still have a number of critical issues that they are negotiating with the company. Fatigue policy is one issue that they are struggling with, as well as operator mandatory call. We need to keep these union brothers and sisters in our prayers.
Our representatives have been discussing issues with the company for some time, now it is time to start official negotiations with the company. This begins on Monday May 18.
Our representatives want to keep our members informed about what is happening, so new posts here should will become much more frequent. You will be getting more emails also. Your union leadership knows how imporant it is for our members to be well informed, and we plan to do just that.
I now ask all of you to all the members of our negotiation team in your prayers. Ask the LORD that they will be given wisdom and courage to do what is best for all of us. Pray for the company represntatives as well, that they too will do what is right.
Later,
Kenith
We learned that Ponca is still on rolling 24's. They still have a number of critical issues that they are negotiating with the company. Fatigue policy is one issue that they are struggling with, as well as operator mandatory call. We need to keep these union brothers and sisters in our prayers.
Our representatives have been discussing issues with the company for some time, now it is time to start official negotiations with the company. This begins on Monday May 18.
Our representatives want to keep our members informed about what is happening, so new posts here should will become much more frequent. You will be getting more emails also. Your union leadership knows how imporant it is for our members to be well informed, and we plan to do just that.
I now ask all of you to all the members of our negotiation team in your prayers. Ask the LORD that they will be given wisdom and courage to do what is best for all of us. Pray for the company represntatives as well, that they too will do what is right.
Later,
Kenith
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Still in Discussions
Our local representatives are meeting regularly with the company.
The next scheduled meeting between our local representatives and refinery leaders is Thursday April 2nd. The issues up for discussion next week are operations scheduling issues, 10% pay for lead T/A operators and temporary work schedule assignments.
NOTICE: We will be voting next in April for operations committeeman. We have two nmembers nominated for this position: James Gallier and Rod Girlinghouse.
The eletion will be held April 9 and will last from 6 AM until 8 PM. I hope you will give this choice careful consideration and show up to vote.
Thanks
The next scheduled meeting between our local representatives and refinery leaders is Thursday April 2nd. The issues up for discussion next week are operations scheduling issues, 10% pay for lead T/A operators and temporary work schedule assignments.
NOTICE: We will be voting next in April for operations committeeman. We have two nmembers nominated for this position: James Gallier and Rod Girlinghouse.
The eletion will be held April 9 and will last from 6 AM until 8 PM. I hope you will give this choice careful consideration and show up to vote.
Thanks
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Pre-Talks Started Today
At the end of our first day of pre-negotiations, Leon said that he thought things went well in discussions with the Refineries leadership and was optimistic about how things will go forward. We still have a very long way to go and many issues to discuss, but things have started off well.
No specifics are available yet, these are, after all, "pre" negotiations. Still, they are useful and will give us a good sense of how things look before the "real" negotiations begin.
As a reminder, we will be taking nominations for all elected offices of our local at next Tuesday's meeting. Remember to come to the hall for the meeting on March 10.
I hope to see a lot of you there.
No specifics are available yet, these are, after all, "pre" negotiations. Still, they are useful and will give us a good sense of how things look before the "real" negotiations begin.
As a reminder, we will be taking nominations for all elected offices of our local at next Tuesday's meeting. Remember to come to the hall for the meeting on March 10.
I hope to see a lot of you there.
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