To those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mike Mason. I currently drive loader on Rig 9-ES. I have worked for Nabors since April of 1988. I am writing this letter to you, my fellow roughnecks, because I feel it is of the upmost importance that we, as a group, organize ourselves and educate ourselves on the issues at hand.

Some of you are newer employees and many of you have worked in the oil patch for quite some time. What you both have in common is that now is the time for us to band together and fight for what we, as  employees, deserve! We work in a hostile environment with long working hours and half our life is spent away from our families. We are constantly under the shadow of the fact that our jobs depend on a fluctuating world market. We work in an industry that provides us many environmental challenges and ever present dangers. In exchange, all we ask for is a decent wage, a better health care package, and a chance to receive a pension.

Nabors is unwilling to negotiate any of these stipulations and does not intend to, as stated by Jim Denny in the Anchorage Daily News when he declared that Nabors was offering it’s employees exactly what they have now. It is clear to me that the only way to achieve our goal is to voice our opinions and fight for our rights. This is easier said than done. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles in our way such as communication barriers - since our righs are so far apart. Many of you, though you feel the same as me, are worried about losing your job if you speak up. Newer hands are just happy to have a job and don’t want to take a chance of not advancing. All of these reasons are exactly what management needs and depends on to keep you and me from ever realizing our goals.

Some of you wonder why I stick my neck out and stand up to management. There are many reasons but the main one is that I finally realized that management only cares about one thing, money. If you think for one minute that you or I mean a damn thing to them, you are sadly mistaken. We are constantly pushed to “roll with the changes.” Ever changing policies and procedure format changes only add to the confusion and in my opinion they are not the answer to a better and safer environment. Nabors management is under the assumption that these procedures can “train” new hands. You and I know that experience and working with knowledgeable hands is what gets them there! I used to be that if you were safe and injury free you received a bonus. Now you have to be a photographer and computer analyst too. On 9-ES we were told that we save BP one well for every three wells we drill. Did we see a bonus? No, not even a Cabellas gift certificate. Hell, you would think that management would at least make up a commemorative hat or shirt to show off what a good job “they” did! The only reason management pushes the proactive bonus and procedure format is for legality, i.e. to cover their butts!

Over the last three years I can recall several cases of amputation, two people being crushed by drill collars, two serious fires resulting in six injuries and many more serious incidents. It makes me wonder how Nabors Alaska division could have been so far below the average incident rate of other drilling contractors. You and I know many incidents where people were taken care of and given desk jobs or easy duty so that we could avoid a lost time accident. Just recently a hand with chemical burns was “working” for nearly two hitches while others took up the slack so Nabors could avoid a LTA. How does that make a roustabout feel, working two hitches as a floorhand for roustabout pay? Why in the world should management expect us to be loyal to them when they will not even listen to our concerns?

It is my opinion that Nabors only pushes safety as far as the oil company it is contracted to is willing to pay for it. When I was on the Osprey Platform as a safety trainer, the rig crew and I documented many safety violations within the derrick. When brought to the attention of the tool pusher, his first comment was “We can’t have this, if the union found out they could shut us down.” I mentioned my concerns about this and the way things were done in the inlet to Mr. Denney and never heard another word! Now Mr. Denny sends out a letter saying he is appalled at the fact some one let out confidential information. Which reminds me, just how in the world did Ben Bearden get all our addreses so he could mail out non-union propaganda? In his letter Mr. Denny states that we have a system in place for reporting unsafe conditions. Well, I can think of many times that unsafe conditions were reported and nothing was done or it took many months to correct them. For example, the loader operators on my rig, including myself, voiced concerns over the unsafe condition of the head on our loader. Though our original heat was sitting in town and in good shape, it took nearly two months to ship it to us so we could install it. Why does it take this long for a multi-billion dollar corporation to take care of such important safety issues? Does not sound like safety is management’s main concern to me. And this is just one of many expamples of how Nabors management operates.

Now let’s talk about management and broken promises. Rig 2-ES had over 1400 working days without an LTA. Management  said they would receive something if the made 1500 days once the re-started the rig. Did they receive anything? No. Management sells us on tech limits. Did they follow through? No. To tell you the truth I don’t want any of their gifts or trinkets. I want management to quit shoving safety and the STOP program down my throat then looking the other way when it comes to them. I want to receive a bonus for being safe and doing a good job not becuse I have secretarial skills. I want to hear something that management says and believe it for a change. But most of all, I want a contract!!!

Management also insists that we attend mandatory training in town for a grand wage of $10.00 an hour. If it is a mandatory condition of our job then why are we not paid accordingly? Why are we not paid in an orderly fashion? It is because none of us will stand up to management. The fact that we have to hound management for our training pay shows jus how inept management really is. And now they have the nerve to say that they are not aware that any one was ever not paid in a timely manner.

Jim Denny states in the Daily News that our health care has improved since they contracted a local carrier. Huh? I was sent in from the slope to the emergency room at Providence with pneumonia in December and now, six months later, insurance has not paid once cent of that medical bill. I can’t for the life of me understand why management will not take care of their hands and offer a better health care plan. If I were president of a large company whose employees were trying to unionize, I would take a good hard look at the issues and at least try to appease my hands to try to ward off trouble ahead. Instead management profits of its workers misfortune. Would Jim Denny accept our health care insurance for himself and his family? Not on your life! The way I see it, the way management has handled the whole situation shows me that they do not care what we need now nor will they care in the future.

A lot of people are trying to help us attain what is just and fair. There are people watching in Washington D.C. to see what happens here but all we can do is stand around and bemoan our fate because we are too scared to fight back. Jim Denny vows to fire any troublemakers. Well guess what guys, he can’t. It is just a scare tactic aimed at keeping us in our place. There are laws to protect us from these actions and we have a union that will make sure it does not happen. I can’t promise you that we can receive everything we ask for, but I can tell you we will receive nothing if we don’t stand on our feet and keep letting everyone else do our fighting for us.

You wonder what we can do? How about organizing a watchdog group? How about having a protest where Nabors hands actually participate? How about having a couple of hands participate in negotiations? How about having a representative from each rig to open communications? How about writing our congressman? I have many ideas as I’m sure you do, but none of them will work if we don’t band together and work towards a common goal. Call me at 733-2371 or e-mail me at and give me your ideas. Talk to your fellow crew members and explore all your options. Educate yourselves on the laws that protect us. I don’t expect people to put their necks on the line but if you have some useful information or good ideas. I will keep them confidential if you wish. We are working on a website and will have an e-mail address soon. What everyone needs to realize is that it is up to us to organize and fight our own fight. Some of you expressed disappointment that we did not proceed with a sut down this spring. Men, the union cannot call for a strike. It is up to us to stand tall and show management that they do not have, nor have they ever had our best interest in mind! Call your union rep and ask questions. There are Nabors hands already working thru th hall after they were laid off! I know that if we organize and stick together that we can and will win this fight. It is up to us now!

Tony Hopfinger, an Anchorage Daily News reporter wrote an article that said our fight with Nabors management was like a game of chicken. Well I for one am tired of running and I’m not backing down. It is time to hold management accountable!

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