To: All Whiting Employees
The purpose of this Employee Information Bulletin (EIB) is to provide clarity on several Company proposals through a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Question: Is the Company still proposing salaried Board Technicians?
Answer: In the Company’s most recent proposal, Board Technicians would remain in the bargaining unit, however, the appointment of Board Technicians would be through a management interview and selection process.
Question: The Company proposed new classifications and a new Technician progression model across Ops, Maintenance, and Lab. Why haven’t more details been shared on rates of pay, upskilling timelines, etc.?
Answer: The details have not been finalized, and we are still in active negotiations. We understand some of the initial proposals have caused some concern amongst employees. It’s important to understand that we are looking at each department uniquely, including Operations, Maintenance, Lab, and other classifications. We are also negotiating the appropriate timeline to allow employees to qualify / upskill in order to reach the highest rates of pay across the different departments.
Question: Why is the Company using Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data? Is BLS data really relevant to refineries?
Answer: The Company is using BLS data because the wage data is publicly available, widely validated, independent, transparent and comprehensive. BLS data contains detailed wage data for Petroleum & Coal Products Manufacturing* (NAICS 324) jobs such as refinery operators, mechanics, electricians, machinists, lab technicians, etc.
BLS data also contains regional variances that help make the data applicable to the local market.
*The Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing subsector is based on the transformation of crude petroleum and coal into usable products. The dominant process in this subsector is petroleum refining that involves the separation of crude petroleum into component products through such techniques as cracking and distillation.