A message from our man on the ground in Seattle-

Wow! What an absolutely fantastic day yesterday! 

I am beyond proud and grateful to everyone that got us here, and there are just no words to express how Blessed I feel to be a part of such a wonderful collection of people… both personally and professionally. 

It’s been sad for me to accept that we got to this place to begin with. It wasn’t that long ago that we all felt valued and appreciated by both Conocophillips and our local management. That all changed entirely too quickly, and that’s precisely what got us here. Actions have consequences although some of them are unintended. This wasn’t a fight we wanted, but it also wasn’t one we were going to back down from. Thank you all for having the courage to make your voices heard. 

I believe what we have done will result in a safer and better future for EVERYONE on the slope and for decades to come. 

I spent the morning with our USW representative Derek to better understand what’s next. Let me just say that it’s a lot. Let me also say that I would sincerely appreciate your patience as we kick this whole thing off. I’m one of you very simply. This is all new to me and I’m drinking through a fire hose right now. We are going to be working together to get as much information out as we can. The only way this works is for us to get the support and participation from the entire team. The more work and effort we put into this will be directly reflected in the outcome we get. This will be hard work but it’s work that’s worth doing. 

Please don’t hold me to these things but the following is a brief summary of what comes next. 

 1. There is about a week for either side to object to anything with regard to the election. If there are no objections, then the election will be officially certified. 

 2. The USW will submit a Request For Information to ConocoPhillips. It’s a massive amount of info and will likely take a few weeks. 

 3. We will send out a bargaining survey to all represented employees. That’s our opportunity to prioritize what’s important to us for purposes of bargains a contract. It sounds like we can deliver that electronically or on paper. I want the group to give feedback on their preference. 

 4. We will need to select a bargaining committee. I’m unclear exactly how this works. We can vote on the committee or we can simply select members. For Kuparuk/Alpine, we feel like 2 people from each area makes sense. An operator and a maintenance person possibly? We’re thinking 4 total and then most likely a couple alternates.

 5. The selected or chosen bargaining committee members will then start meeting and reviewing proposals, other contracts relevant to us, and the survey that was sent out. The purpose is to fundamentally understand what kind of contract we want. 

 6. Begin selecting dates to start bargaining. Please understand this will be logistically challenging and will take time.

This is as far as I’ve gotten today. 

It sounds like we will be able to create a text blast that folks can sign up for that will include updates. 

We may also create a Communication Action Team to act as an intermediary between the team and the bargaining committee. They will assist in getting information out to as many as possible. 

I know that everyone has questions and we will do everything we can to communicate in a timely manner. Please understand that most of this effort is being done voluntarily and much of it on our days off. We are truly trying to be of service to the entire team. 

Thank you all again. We have much to be proud of. The more work we put into this, the better the outcome. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have and questions or concerns.

Please share with as many of your team as you can. My network of freedom fighters is big but it won’t catch everyone.