Alaska Employment Law

The five conforming bidders for the Natural Gas Pipeline signed on to the employment-related provisions of sections 15 and 17 of AGIA.  ConocoPhillips, on the other hand, submitted a non-conforming bid, but one which included some promises with regard to Alaska employment. 

Section VII of CP’s 115-page proposal addresses “Labor.”  (Pp. 49-50)  In that section, CP notes that the project (from the North Slope to Alberta) will require 50 million man-hours of work.  Figure VII.1 allocates that labor estimate among a number of crafts, including Teamsters, Operators, and Fitters/Welders.   (P. 51)

Alaska Hire: CP makes a broad commitment to hiring Alaskans, but also states that the project will

place significant demands on worldwide resources for materials, equipment and skilled labor.  The availability of skilled labor from across North America is a key concern in Alaska.  There is currently a shortage in the State of craft labor including welders, sideboom operators, inspectors, safety engineers, trenching operators, and foremen.  Experience will be critical to the productivity of the project.  Labor plans must acknowledge the potential need to draw on worldwide resources.

(P. 49; emph. added.)

Alaska Training: CP commits to spending $10 million for training Alaskans, and favorably mentions a number of current training programs, though not the Pipeline Training Center run by the Alaska Works Partnership program.  (Pp. 54-55)  

Other: CP also commits to enter into “one or more” PLAs, to establish a local project headquarters in Anchorage, and to locate its pipeline construction headquarters in Fairbanks.

Note: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, in its Saturday and Sunday stories, referred to only four conforming bids.  The News-Miner may be confusing or conflating the bids from two separate public or quasi-public entities - one from the Alaska Gasline Port Authority (Fairbanks North Star Borough, the City of Valdez, and North Slope Borough), and a different one from the Alaska Natural Gasline Development Authority (a state agency).