For Immediate Release: January 14, 2010

 

Contacts:

 

Michelle Egan, Alyeska Corporate Communications Director

907-787-8870, 907-230-7775 (Cell)

 

Mary Gasperlin, ASRC Director of Communications

907-339-6084, 907-382-0019 (Cell)

 

Jim Laiti, President, Alaska Petroleum Joint Craft Council

907-479-6221

 

Unions preserve jobs, achieve cost savings

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska unions working together have developed a plan that will allow them to preserve union jobs on the Trans Alaska Pipeline System while still delivering significant cost savings to Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates and maintains the pipeline.

 

“Organized labor has a long history of working on TAPS,” said Jim Laiti, President of the Alaska Petroleum Joint Craft Council. “We’re pleased to help with the solution.”

 

Alyeska in November had entered into final negotiations for its maintenance and project contracts, meeting with Arctic Slope Regional Corporation subsidiary ASRC Energy Services, and its subsidiary, Houston Contracting Co. Inc. Houston Contracting is the union subsidiary of ASRC Energy Services.

 

With negotiations underway, the Alaska Petroleum Joint Craft Council, a coalition of union representatives, met to consider alternatives. They then proposed options to ASRC for preserving union jobs on TAPS.

 

Houston brought Alyeska a proposal that included savings in labor rates and allowed them to take both the maintenance and project contracts, while still saving Alyeska money over past labor agreements.

 

“The pipeline is a critical piece of Alaska’s infrastructure and as a corporation, it’s exciting to contribute to that,” said Mark Nelson, President and CEO of ASRC Energy Services. “We’re pleased that Houston Contracting Company’s working relationship with TAPS is going to continue.”

 

Greg Jones, Alyeska Senior Vice President of Technical Support, said because of Houston’s past work on Alyeska, awarding that company both contracts should result in a smoother transition of work.

 

“With today’s lower throughput levels, we need to do all we can on TAPS to be more efficient, and we’re happy that the labor organizations and contractors found a creative solution that will help keep TAPS viable down the road and in the future,” Jones said. “These contract decisions were always about who could get the jobs done safely and correctly while resulting in cost savings for Alyeska.”

 

About Alyeska

 

Alyeska operates the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which runs from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope south to the Port of Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in the United States. The pipeline crosses three mountain ranges and 34 major rivers and streams. Alyeska operates out of Anchorage, Fairbanks and Valdez and at various facilities along the line. Alyeska was created to construct, operate, and maintain TAPS for the owner companies. The current TAPS owners are BP Pipelines (Alaska), ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, Unocal Pipeline Company, and Koch Alaska Pipeline Company.  

 

For more information on Alyeska, visit www.alyeska-pipe.com.

 

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