Job Cutting Process Begins Across the Bay

The Valdez Star: "Alyeska Pipeline Service Company has started to move on plans to trim the firm's work force as part of a major overhaul of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
The $250 million upgrades are expected to negate the need for 350 jobs and save money for the pipeline company, which transports oil over 800 miles from the North Slope to Valdez.
Alyeska is rebuilding several remote pump stations that push crude oil down the pipeline. The pump stations are being converted from work camps into unmanned, automated stations.
Of the jobs expected to be cut, about half would be Alyeska employees and the rest workers for Alyeska contractors, Alyeska spokesman Mike Heatwole said.
The job cutting process begun this week involves selecting top managers first and will continue down through the company, according to a memo from Alyeska president David Wight. Factors include employee performance and preferences as to jobs, work schedules, locations and willingness to leave voluntarily.
Alyeska already has asked for volunteers to take a severance package, but Heatwole would not say how many people had done so.
``This is a significant time of change for our company and for each of you individually,'' Wight said in the memo to Alyeska employees. ``There will be many decisions made over the next few weeks, some very difficult and some easier, where employees' preferences match with business needs.''
Nearly 900 Alyeska employees plus about 700 contractors work along the pipeline, at the tanker port in Valdez, and in offices and yards in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Heatwole said.
All employees will be notified of their status by Sept. 15, Heatwole said.
Alyeska is an Anchorage-based consortium that runs the pipeline on behalf of five owners: BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and Unocal. The pipeline carries 13 per"