Marcellus Shale - Gas Wells

October 28, 2010

Labor protests shale industry

Leaders tell House Labor Relations Committee gas companies won’t work with union contractors.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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SCRANTON – Local union leaders blasted the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry Thursday at a hearing of the House Labor Relations Committee.

Vern Johnson, council representative for the Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council of Carpenters, told the committee that union officials have tried “every conceivable way” to get union contractors work with every gas company in the Northern Tier counties with little or no success.

“Most of these companies will make us chase our tail until we’re right back where we started; others will give our contractors the opportunity to go through the process of completing a takeoff and submitting a bid within hours of receiving blueprints for a project, only to find out that the project has already been started by non-union, out-of-state companies with unqualified employees – workers from New York,” Johnson said.

He said unions aren’t looking for handouts, nor do they feel they automatically should be awarded jobs. “All we are asking for is an opportunity to competitively bid,” he said.

Gas companies paying $10 to $12 per hour on jobs with 12-hour work days, seven-day work weeks and no overtime or benefits “is severely driving our work and safety standards down in the commonwealth,” Johnson said. He said companies don’t want to hire local professionals who care about the environment here, but rather out-of-state employees who don’t.

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said he knows local union members are well-trained and would be an asset to the natural gas industry.

“What bothered me is that the industry has been saying for a long time ‘There are no employees, we don’t have any qualified employees.’ What it appears … (to be) is, ‘We don’t have any qualified employees that are willing to work for that amount of money,’ ” Pashinski said.

State Rep. Kevin Murphy, who hosted the hearing and served as chair, asked Ralph Tijerina, Marcellus Shale Coalition Safety Committee co-chairman, if the industry opposed a significant increase in performance bonds and fines to deter drillers from cutting corners.

Murphy, D-Scranton, said his constituents “want to make sure there is going to be a significant financial risk for companies that cut corners. If you’re going to do the right thing, you shouldn’t be afraid to post an increased performance bond,” he said after the hearing.

Marcellus Shale spokesman Travis Windle responded that as responsible development of the Marcellus Shale continues to expand, “so too will opportunities for every segment of the commonwealth’s work force.”

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