Labor Language Reinserted In Gasline Bill

The latest version of a bill advancing a natural gas megaproject restores language concerning collective bargaining.

The Senate Finance Co-Chair Pete Kelly announced on Tuesday evening that the committee will scrap the less specific language they had planned to use when dealing with labor terms. Instead, the new version of the bill will include provisions encouraging Alaska hire and addressing “project labor agreements.” That means labor organizations will be involved in setting the wages and benefits for work on the project. Union and non-union firms could both secure contracts with the provision.

Sen. Click Bishop, a Fairbanks Republican, pushed to include the language in the bill.

“We want to make sure that as far as practicable, that the producers and the state contract with Alaska businesses,” said Bishop.

The North Slope gas project is seen as a jobs bonanza by many members of the Legislature – it would involve the construction of an 800-mile pipeline and cost at least $45 billion. The oil companies that are party to the agreement already signed off on the idea of project labor agreements when they inked a deal with the Parnell administration in January.

The Senate Finance Committee also accepted two separate amendments to the bill on Tuesday. They added a non-compete clause, which prohibits state officers involved in gasline negotiations from taking work with the other parties involved in the contract for three years after their termination date. They also specified that the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation should represent the state’s interest in a natural gas liquefaction plant, rather than creating a subsidiary to do so.

The changes build on the revisions the Senate Finance Committee debuted on Monday, which include bumping the tax rate from the 10 percent proposed by Gov. Sean Parnell up to 13 percent. That would give the state 25 percent equity in the project.

The bill is expected to be sent to the Senate floor for a vote within a week.