The following letter was sent to Greater Detroit Building Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin, regarding work at the Marathon Ashland Alky 2000 Turnaround Project. Building trades representatives went through extensive talks with Marathon to make sure this project and future projects go union.

Dear Mr. Devlin,

As we enter the demobilization stage of this project, I finally have some time to reflect on the past four weeks and to convey some thoughts about the job in which we have all participated.

In my mind the cooperation shown by the Building Trades in general was better than I had expected. Any jurisdictional disputes (and there were few) that did arise were handled internally and quietly within our organization without distraction or disruption. This was an issue that Marathon expressed some concerns at the concept and watched very closely.

The safety record for this project was exceptional. Of the approximately 42,000 man-hours expended, we had a total of one OSHA-recordable incident. Although my goal was zero recordables, I am very proud of the effort made by all in keeping this workplace safe.

The skill and craftsmanship displayed on this job was for the most part good but not without its lumps. If there was an area needing improvement, it would be here. Shutdowns are complicated and fast-track jobs that require a lot of attention to detail. Unfortunately we did not have the time to fully comprehend all of our work scopes or the time to properly train the supervision. This was due in part to Marathon's late decision to award this work "union," unfamiliarity of the local work force with refinery projects, and a short learning curve, which is important on any project.

On a positive note…we never did reach our original man count, which means that our productivity rate overall was somewhere in the 1.2 range. A productivity rate this high is outstanding. My hat is off to all the Detroit Building Trades involved.

Another positive note is that Marathon has asked us to play a major role in the upcoming FCC Turnaround this fall, which now has a tentative start date of mid-October.

I wish to thank all of the local unions that participated in this project: Boilermakers 169, Pipe Fitters 636, Plumbers 98, Laborers 334, Operators 324, Teamsters 247 and Painters 22. I also wish to thank the Carpenters and Insulators who were not under our contract but worked with us and share our success.

Please convey my appreciation to all involved and share this letter.

Respectfully yours,
Michael D. Williams
Site Manager
RMF/Delta Industrial Services, Inc.