A deeper dive into Pat's Union FAQs

You all saw the email that Pat put out, or maybe not if you're offshift, but it's basically identical to the one Ed sweet talked us with last year- "we're family, we want to work this out together, we don't want you to lose your voice"....blah, blah, blah, you remember the one, and our response. So we discussed a few of the attached FAQ's in another blog post, but let's just dig in a little deeper into the rest of the FAQs.

For the sake of brevity, click here to read 'the rest of the answer' to Ed/Pats questions #2, 4, & 7, which were about where Union dues go, Union "Intimidation" & what unions do for employees. In short, Ed/Pat want you to believe unions collect your money to pay a bunch of managers salaries and in exchange they occasionally bargain a bit and spend time intimidating you... sounds like the pot is calling the kettle black...but OK. Anyways, read this previous blog post to find out what dues are actually for and what not.

Also, we talked about #5 Union A-cards a whole bunch other places, so search around the website for lots more details on that if you need more info.

So, diving into the rest-

#8 How much are union dues? We hit question already too, read about it in detail here. But the short answer is 1.45% with a cap.

#9 What changes once a union is formed? Ed is right "Once a union is certified, it becomes your voice". But what Ed left out is WE ARE THE UNION, we elect the members, we vote on our agenda, and WE have to ratify any Collective Bargaining Agreement that our negotiator and Conoco hash out- if we don't like it, we don't vote to accept it. So yes, a union is our voice... a voice we don't have right now. If you'd like to learn more about union local structure read the answer to a user submitted question here- scroll down to #4

#11 What sorts of things can/can't be included in a collective bargaining process? Ed's answer:"blah, blah blah, blah blah blah,...and the union might negotiate away current benefits that matter to you personally".

LOL! This is hilarious coming from a company that cut our short term disability pay from 1 year to 6 months, scrapped our pension, replaced our sick pay with something that works better for the townies (PTO), stole our premiums, demoted our leads, knee capped our night shift differential, forced everyone to a 2x2 schedule and.... shit I forget the rest, I can't even keep up with all the stuff they've stolen from us.... but that's very thoughtful of Ed to warn us that the union might bargain away our shit.

#12 What will change after a union is certified?

Ok this is big one- I'm going to post his whole answer verbatim in several separate parts then break it down.. lots of scare tactics here:

"Following the recertification of a union, you will no longer deal wit the company using your own voice, as an individual. Supervisors would no longer be permitted to deal directly wit you to address convers or solve problems"

Complete bullshit. First, as we found out this last year, we absolutely have no voice, especially not as an individual. Besides, our pay rates/schedules/benefits were never negotiated individually. And supervisors will still do exactly what supervisors do- deal directly with us to solve the daily and weekly problems of an oilfield. We are not going to have 'union reps' deciding if we should take a GLC down for maintenance or put a generator on the buss.

The rest of the Ed/Pats answer to #12 "Additionally, during the time that a contract is being negotiated, the company would be legally required to maintain the "status qou" of wages, benefits, and working conditions and would not be able to make any changes until an agreement on a contract have been reached with the union. This "status quo" rule can make waiting for an agreement challenging, particularly when business developments require flexibility."

So this is basically pretending to be a vailed threat that you won't get your VCIP or a raise... but that's not what 'status quo' means- they've already rolled out our pay scheme, and our VCIP scheme and have slides out [which we may or may not have] that show we'll be included in the wage increase in March. So legally that can't pull back on any of that... at least not without getting a serious peepee slap from a few judges, as well as state and federal labor boards. Read more about our wage protections during bargaining in this blog post.

Damn... Ed still ain’t done with the scare tactics “Remember there is no guarantees in collective bargaining,. Compensation and benefits can increase, decrease or remain the same.  Absolutely no one knows, or can predict, what might be included in a collective bargaining agreement if a union represented employees here.”  

Well bud, I guess you got me there, no one knows the future details. But, given that you and HR Lady have straight up told us we’re overpaid by about 25% and slashed our new hire pay by almost 25% to drive the point home, I would say it's safe to say that WITHOUT a union our compensation and benefits are guaranteed to get worse… so I’ll take my chance with the union.  Besides, if the CBA we negotiate sucks, we won’t vote to ratify it…. I don’t remember HR Lady giving us a chance to vote on our current pay cuts.  

Hot damn, that was A LOT of shit to shovel through.  Yeah, I skipped a few questions but they bored me, and they’ll bore you with their complete tone deafness and babble. 

Anyways- remember, don’t engage these guys in meetings, they are not there to work out solutions with you.  Hang tight, talk with your coworkers and bring the strays into our fold and be patient. We WILL have our seat at the table.