To: All Whiting Employees
Questions & Answers Regarding the Company’s Last, Best, and Final Offer (LBFO)
The purpose of this Employee Information Bulletin (EIB) is to provide answers to some commonly asked questions that you may have about the Company’s final offer.
Q1: If the Company’s LBFO isn’t ratified, what happens?
A1: Both the Company and the Union continue to have the same legal obligation to bargain in good faith if our employees do not vote to accept the offer. It is realistic to assume that, if the offer doesn’t ratify, the parties will promptly resume discussions. The Company would eventually provide another offer to the union.
Q2: Because the Company called this their ‘BEST’ offer, will future offers be less or different in some way?
A2: The term “BEST” offer reflects the full extent of how much the Company is willing to give at this time. If the offer is not ratified, there is no guarantee that the same economics or other benefits would be included in future offers. Future proposals would depend on circumstances at that time. So, while the Company prefers that this LBFO be ratified, it cannot commit that future proposals would match it.
Q3: Will the Company lock out employees, if the offer isn’t ratified?
A3: The Company will continue to bargain in good faith; however, the Company cannot operate in a state of labor uncertainty into perpetuity and will have to consider other options, which could include a lockout.
Q4: How many other refineries are part of the “pattern”? Will the Whiting Refinery be the only unionized refinery on a date that is separate from the USW “pattern”?
A4: This is a difficult question to answer for several reasons. First, pattern bargaining in the US is not a legal structure or formal agreement. There is no requirement (either legally or contractually) that binds one refinery to another company’s contract settlement. Second, in any round of contract negotiations it is possible that some refineries choose to follow some elements of what the Union determines is ‘pattern’, while others choose to follow none. The elements that each company and refinery must decide to follow include things such as contract date and term, wage increases, any new side letters proposed by the USW, and previous side letters that may have been agreed to in the past.
Additionally, because this information is not collected or reported anywhere centrally, it is difficult to know precise details for each refinery. However, as best we know, based on data in the public domain (i.e. government reporting, news and media reporting, industry news/articles):