How Alyeska keeps the UNION busting guns
loaded:
* Valdez UNION Drive #1 - Timeline To Defeat *
January 19th & 23rd
of 1979:
Though a “Direction of Election” mandated by the National Labor Relations
Board, the Valdez Marine Terminal(VMT) Instrument & Electrical workers vote
for a UNION, a unanimous decision with a final tally of 22-YEAS and 5-NAYS. An
overwhelming victory for the UNION and IBEW Local 1547.
Alyeska, in objection, timely appealed that
election’s outcome and that request was turned down by the NLRB’s Region 19 Director,
in “opine” that the IBEW did not engage in any interference of a worker’s
rights those not interested to be represented by “organized labor” and the
tactics at the organizing meetings was normal bargaining unit “puff” so
harmless, therefore the election results “stayed” and certified as legitimate.
It was another Alaskan “We’re In” for the workers, sick and tired of drunk
tanker crews interfering with the work at the Marine Terminal loading berths.
Alyeska, again in objection, timely appealed that
decision, this time to the newly seated NLRB Chairman, a recess appointee of
Ronald Reagan the incoming U.S. President - thus using that tactic to delay the
appeal process until such time it was to Alyeska’s advantage the outcome
demanded, to set aside the election.
April 12th, 1982: Alyeska wins the 2nd
appeal with the Board, in spite of the Reginal Directors call upon the
legitimacy of the UNION vote by the workers for the workers, as the Reagan appointee
- who could not even get U.S. Senate confirmation with a republican majority due
a record of Union busting - the Chairman issues an “opine” that the IBEW
engaged in unlawful promises akin to a “fist inside the velvet glove”, thereby setting
aside the election results and directs another election. 3-years had past
since the original vote awarded the workers a UNION, and in that time "puff" morphed to that "fist", as it now turned to a political agenda, KILL the UNION & KILL the MESSENGER! Alyeska in earnest then starts to break up
the VMT I&E rank and file and soon all workers in Valdez reclassified as “Technicians”,
the conquer by divide and there is not enough interest in a UNION with the
operators and mechanics as the IBEW does not represent all trades, so no
interest can be found for a majority vote to UNIONIZE and Alyeska targets the “vocal
UNION supporters”.
* Valdez UNION Drive #2 - Timeline To Defeat *
December 10th, 2004: With enough interest
to attempt an “organized labor” in UNION effort once again, the NLRB is
sanctioned by the PACE(Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers)
Local 8-0369, an affiliate of the United Steel Workers Local 4959-AFL-CIO, to
allow for an election based on the single-facility unit, as the “public utility”
presumption is not applicable. The former includes the VMT Technicians only,
the latter the entire pipeline’s technician headcount. The Region 19 Director
calls for the “Direction of Election”, for the VMT Technicians as a
single-facility bargaining unit, 163 employees eligible to cast a vote FOR or AGAINST
the Union, in this case a labor organization more friendly to all trades and
very likely to succeed in the majority a vote for the UNION.
December 22nd, 2004: Alyeska files a motion
for dismissal any election under the “Public Utility Status” for a system-wide
presumption(entire pipeline not just VMT Technicians or a head-count of 327 vs. 163) over the single-facility unit, an election already authorized by the
Region 19 Director.
February 9th, 2005: Alyeska’s motion
denied, Region 19 Director calling the single-facility unit appropriate and the "system-wide public utility" presumption not applicable. A win for the UNION and
the election will go on for the VMT Technicians only.
February 22nd, 2005: Alyeska requests “Board
Review” of Region 19 Director's denial of motion.
April 6th, 2005: NLRB Board grants
Alyeska’s request for a review.
September 29th, 2006: Again using the
delay of the Board, the NLRB now under a Bush appointee, the Chairman remands the
Region 19 Director’s “opine” in favor of Alyeska’s “Public Utility”
presumption. One Board member files a dissent(see opine below, under What It
All Means?).
October 31st, 2006: Region 19 Director
issues “Direction of Election”, wherein the 2-member Board’s overruling decision
that the “system-wide public utility” is presumed with the election covering all
327 Alyeska Technicians, not just the 163 VMT workers. The pipeline has no
interest in a Union, so the drive fails.
~~~~~
*What It All Means? Is Alyeska for real, to think
it is a “Public Utility”?
Black’s Law Dictionary defines “public utility” as
“a privately owned and operated business whose service are so essential to the
general public as to justify the grant of special franchises for the use of
public property or of the right of eminent domain, in consideration of which
the owners must serve all persons who apply, without discrimination. It is
always a virtual monopoly.” Additionally, the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.
§ 247(b)(1) defines a “public utility” as “a corporation engaged in the
furnishing of telephone services or in the sale of electrical energy, gas, or
water, if the rates for such furnishing or sale, as the case may be, have been
established or approved by a State or political subdivision thereof or by an
agency or instrumentality of the United States or by a public utility or public
service commission.”
NLRB Board member Walsh’s dissenting “opine”
why Alyeska failed the litmus test: “The Employer failed to cite and I am not
aware of any case in which the Board has recognized a crude oil company or a
crude oil pipeline as a “public utility.” The Employer is asking me to extend
the public utility presumption beyond the current state of Board law to a
common carrier crude oil pipeline.
I do not find the traditional public utility
presumption applies to a crude oil pipeline where the users and direct
benefactors of the pipeline are commercial entities and not the general public
in any direct manner. In cases where the Board has extended the presumption,
those employers exclusively provided a vital or essential service directly to
the public. Here, however, TAPS only moves crude oil from one place to another
for the benefit of a few commercial customers. Moreover, the Employer in this
case is not the owner of the pipeline, but rather the service company charged
with operating and maintaining TAPS. Unlike the cases in which the Board
applied the presumption, TAPS’s product is a least three steps removed from the
general public. At best, TAPS has an indirect, aggregate effect on the public’s
consumption of oil as a fuel source. TAPS only transports about 20% of the
Nation’s domestic oil and presumably far less than 20% of the nation’s overall
oil consumption.
My decision that the VMT technicians
constitute an appropriate unit is based upon a rejection of the argument That
TAPS is a public utility under Board law. There is sufficient evidence to
support a conclusion that the VMT technicians constitute an appropriate unit
under the Board's single-facility presumption. 'However, if TAPS were a •
public utility under Board law, I would conclude differently; namely that a
systemwide unit of technicians would be the only appropriate unit under the
Board's systemwide unit presumption for public utilities. While there are
limited exceptions to the systemwide presumption, the facts here would not be
sufficiently compelling to overcome the Board's strong presumption for a
systemwide unit if TAPS wete a public utility.
In sum, I am declining to extend the public
utility presumption to a crude oil pipeline for the reasons stated above and
particularly because the Board has never extended the presumption to such an
industry.
And herein
is the rest of the story. Imagine if all the $loot$ spent by Alyeska for
expensive “UNION” busting, had that cash flowed in a different direction, say
to put a halt to “I Abuse Alcohol”
tanker captains - wow, maybe that EXXON Valdez would have never had a chance?
And this last reach, this “Public Utility” jurisdiction that crashed a second
attempt for the VMT workers to get protection from “organized labor”, it is
very Un-Patriotic that a lawyer or law firm would even think of such a
proposition - it’s Un-American but who cares, as “$Greed$” covers those “flag
burning” risks. Now with the trickle-sown, the Owner Companies that “Own”
Alyeska would or could find an unbelievable “Tax Incentive Advantage” by
claiming that “Public Utility” status, for the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline segment of
their business enterprise. Who does it hurt? Well the U.S. Taxpayers for one,
as it ain’t a “Public Utility” by any stretch of Uncle Sam’s IMAGINATION maybe
fascination! And if so, that the “Owner Companies” take advantage of that “Public
Utility” designation, as that is what the NLRB said it was, then one would think
that the royalty share of oil owned by the citizens of Alaska would see a lion’s
share of any tax benefit. Say in the “what goes around comes around” contracts
to purchase that oil and added tariffs to ship that oil, hey if “Big Oil” sees
a discount, so should the citizens! But I really doubt it, and every damn
citizen of Alaska should realize this point blanker, when the workers are attacked
by efforts to circumcise any UNION interests, so is that PFD being robbed, as
that is wherein any savings behind this “public utility” would find a sharing
agreement. Think about that the next time the governor signs them yearly bonus
checks, as someone is getting robbed! And if still puzzled, just look in the
damn mirror, mirror on the haul who’s the stupidest of them all! Sad, that one
man, as an appointee to a sitting U.S. President can yield so much disrespect the
workers that keep this nation safe, and a company like Alyeska understanding
how it can use that “soul” for its own disrespect, as it appears that respect
no longer exists and wasn’t there once upon a time in “My Country ‘Tis of Thee
- Sweet Land of Liberty” a law against “double jeopardy”? Ask an Alyeska executive
how to spell “respect”, it will start with “DIS”, end of story!
