CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

Steelworkers Union Doesn’t Trust BP Ombudsman Sporkin
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 9, February 16, 2007

Glenn Trimmer doesn’t trust Stanley Sporkin.

Trimmer is an operator at BP’s gathering center on Alaska's North Slope.

He’s also secretary treasurer of United Steelworkers Local 4959.

And he sits atop a volatile facility that takes in crude oil and separates it into one billion cubic feet of natural gas, 50,000 barrels of oil, and 110,000 barrels of water – a day.

Sporkin is BP’s ombudsman – the oil company’s workers’ representative.

At least, that’s what the company says.

Trimmer says he doesn’t trust Sporkin.

That’s because five months ago, Trimmer complained to BP and to Sporkin that his workers were working too many 18-hour days.

And five months ago, BP and Sporkin agreed that this presented a dangerous situation to the workers.

And they agreed to hire the necessary operators to relieve the danger.

And now, five months later, nothing has been done.

“Don't wait until someone is killed or badly hurt,” Trimmer wrote in a September 11, 2006 memo to BP USA President Bob Malone and then BP Alaska President Steve Marshall. “Correct this before something happens.”

Trimmer said that one worker had worked ten eighteen hour shifts out of the 14 days he was on the slope.

Another worker had worked 350 hours overtime in a one-month period.

Trimmer said that he wrote the memo because Bob Malone urged workers to report hazardous working conditions to management.

Trimmer says he didn’t want BP management to be surprised if something went wrong.

Soon thereafter, Trimmer laid out the case and gave Sporkin the documentation. Sporkin agreed it was a hazardous situation and promised to resolve the problem.

Union officials then met with Kemp Copeland, BP’s field manager.

And Copeland agreed that it was a hazardous situation.

BP agreed to hire nine to ten operators with ten years or more operating experience.

“We helped them write the posting,” Trimmer told Corporate Crime Reporter. “We agreed that we would hire those people and that would eliminate the need for us to do 18-hour shifts. Copeland said they would do the job posting immediately.”

But the posting went out only within BP – and was never posted outside of BP.

And now five months later, nobody has been hired.

“If you work eighteen hour shifts and you are working in an oil handling facility, your judgment is going to be impaired,” Trimmer said. “They don’t let truck drivers drive a truck 18 hours because it’s hazardous. You are fatigued – especially if you are going to do it several days in a row – ten out of 14 days. I see it in my co-workers faces. Just look at their faces. These are not guys I want making decisions about hot oil. And management knows that. We sat right there with Kemp Copeland the field manager. And he says – yes, it’s a hazardous condition. He has acknowledged that. And in five months, no concrete action has been taken to correct it. It doesn’t take five months to hire somebody.”

As for Judge Sporkin, Trimmer says you have to build trust. And so far, it’s been all words and no deeds.

“It’s like I told Judge Sporkin – I would look at what he has done more than what he has said,” Trimmer told Corporate Crime Reporter. “So far, he hasn’t done anything. No, I don’t trust him. After I spoke with him initially, the first phone call I got was from Billie Garde (a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who has worked for BP for years). She said she was working for the ombudsman’s office and said she would like to interview me about the concern I turned in – the 18-hour days. And I said no thanks, I’m not talking to you about anything. And I just hung up on her. I don’t trust her. We had dealings with her in the past. When the Judge called me back, I said look – if you are going to work through her, we don’t have anything to talk about.”

“And Judge Sporkin says – no no no, she’s just doing the preliminary interview because I couldn’t get back to you. He assured me she didn’t have anything to do with his office.”

But in an interview with Corporate Crime Reporter, Sporkin says Billie Garde now works for him. And he said that the union, management and he are all on the same page.

“Trimmer is a good fella,” Sporkin said. “I agree with him that we have to get this thing done. The problem is that there has been a change of management up there. Everybody is on board. It’s just a question of communication to get the people together. The resolution is a simple resolution. We’re all on the same page.”

But what good is it if everybody is on the same page and the page gets thrown in the trash?

Which reminds Trimmer of an incident from last year.

Maureen Johnson was a business unit leader for BP on the north slope.

“Last fall right after the August oil spill, BP managers were coming around giving us updates,” Trimmer says. “Maureen Johnson came around and had a meeting here. All of the operators went to that meeting. She took notes about their concerns. But before she left the meeting, she threw the piece of paper with her notes into the trash. One of the workers dug it out of the trash. Steve Marshall was President of BP Alaska at the time and was Johnson’s boss. Later, he came here to hold a similar meeting. I let the meeting go for about a half hour. And I then said to Marshall – I see you are taking notes there. I wonder if you are going to throw them away? He said – what? I said – your business unit leader for all of Prudhoe Bay was up here last week. She just threw her notes in the trash when she left. At first, he said – she has a photographic memory. The whole room laughed. But then he said – she shouldn’t have done that. I’ll certainly talk to her. He picked up his notes and left.”

Earlier this week, Trimmer e-mailed Judge Sporkin expressing his frustration with the situation.

“Everyone I have spoken to admits it's a hazardous condition,” Trimmer wrote. “I am at a loss to understand why it takes over five months to hire someone. In the past, BP has wondered why their employees have felt the need to go to outside agencies and the press with their concerns. It's because they feel their concerns are being ignored.”

Worker advocate Charles Hamel says that Sporkin is just shielding BP and Bob Malone.

"He does an investigation and doesn't release the findings," Hamel said. "What good is that? It shields his paymasters – Bob Malone and BP. And that's it."

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