EQT workers in Kentucky unionize to protect jobs
Just a few weeks before EQT Corp. announced it was selling its shallow gas assets to a rising but low-profile company out of Alabama, EQT’s production workers decided they wanted to protect themselves. So they did something unusual in the industry: They voted to form a union.
The move is not unprecedented, especially for this group of 116 production employees in Kentucky who were actually part of a union until a company reorganization in 2008 led to its dissolution.
But the looming prospect of falling into the hands of another company — one that would be trying to squeeze efficiencies out of the deal — lit the torch.
“I think people were just fired up,” said Brad Manzolillo, an attorney with United Steelworkers, which is representing the workers. “I’m sure rumor [was] going around about a potential sale.”
Downtown-based EQT had been open that it was considering selling off certain noncore assets.
Theworkers filed their petition on May 23 and their election agreement a week later. The day after that, EQT issued a press release officially notifying investors that it is considering asale of its Kentucky properties.
EQT did not respond to queries about the union. Its $585 million sale of unconventional wells in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia closed last week. Now, the 250 employees associated with those wells, including the 116 in Kentucky, belong to Diversified Gas & Oil PLC, an Alabama-based company that has been scooping up conventional wells from companies that have shiftedto shale development.
Diversified is traded on the LondonStock Exchange and has quietly amassed a huge swath of Appalachian shallow wells — 50,000 total, accordingto CEO Rusty Hutson.
With each acquisition, it has brought on employees from the seller, although in at least one instance Diversified said it immediately trimmed 22 percent from the workforce after its acquisition of former Atlas Energy Inc. wells, company documents show.
Today, Diversified has about 750 employees on staff, including the additions from EQT.
Mr. Hutson said he feels like Diversified is “in a good spot” with the Kentucky contingent and promised to “bargain with them
and see where it comes out.”
That is, if the National Labor Relations Board rejects a challenge to the union vote filed by EQT last monthand allows the union certification to proceed.
Mr. Manzolillo expects the NLRB to render a decision in the next several weeks. He stressed that the workers’ goal is to “keep the things they have,” rather than lobby for improved working conditions or benefits.
At least one other oil and gas company operating in the area has union employees. West Virginia-based Core Appalachia inherited its union workforce when it bought assets from Chesapeake Energy Corp. in late 2016. Not all of its workers are in the union, however.
Although swapping assets and consolidation in the industry are in full swing, EQT Kentucky’s efforts don’t appear to be kicking off any trends.
Mr. Manzolillo said that while he’s heard about interest in unionizing among EQT employees in other states, he doesn’t know how far along those efforts are.
More broadly, while oil refinery and some pipeline workers are represented by unions, those who work in the oil and gas fields overwhelmingly aren’t.
“It’s very difficult to organize people who are in exploration and production because they move around all the time,” said Lynn Hancock, a spokesperson for the USW.
Many are also independent contractors.
EQT’s workforce in Kentucky was different, she said: They all knew each other; they had been organized before; and they approached the USW for help with this year’s effort.
The same group of workers and EQT midstream employees in Kentucky voted againstorganizing in 2011 by substantialmargins.