Reinstate Fired Worker Bob Pearson
Buckeye CEO Todd Russo and IFM CEO David Neal
UE Local 106 member Robert Pearson was unjustly terminated in January from his position at the Buckeye marine terminal in Port Reading, New Jersey. The members of Local 106 are demanding that his job be restored along with any back pay he missed during the interim.
Robert Pearson is a revered and esteemed member of the Buckeye Port Reading Operations Team and of UE Local 106. He has trained, guided and inspired his coworkers throughout his career. He is a beloved family man whose wife, children and grandchildren depend on him as a primary breadwinner. Terminating him from this position is not only unjust to him but a cruelty to the family members who depend on him as a provider and to his coworkers who depend on him as a teammate.
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To:
Buckeye CEO Todd Russo and IFM CEO David Neal
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned, demand that fired worker Bob Pearson be brought back to work with back pay. Pearson was a senior, skilled operator at a Buckeye marine terminal in Port Reading, New Jersey.
Buckeye is an oil and gas infrastructure and pipeline company owned by the private equity firm IFM. Bob is a member of United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 106.
In January 2025 Pearson was fired over an accidentally opened gas valve, which resulted in product mixing between storage tanks. The incident occurred on a night the yard was short-staffed, extremely busy, and there were many issues to address due to the freezing conditions. The valve was not visibly marked to indicate that it was open. The valve computer monitoring system was malfunctioning due to extremely cold weather. The Port Reading yard is huge (216 acres), and it has thousands of valves that a small crew of operators manage. Bob was covering a number of roles due to the missing staff. He was assigned by Buckeye to a position (Head Operator) that the company also says he did not have the qualifications for.
Bob made a mistake that any operator could have made. He made one understandable error in a nearly nine year career at Buckeye. When the product mixed, Bob wasn’t even working. He was home with his family. When questioned by management, he was direct and honest about his actions. He did not try to hide anything. He has never been disciplined for anything prior to this firing. Buckeye did not take any of these circumstances into account when they fired him. They fired a well liked, highly valuable employee with no progressive discipline.
Robert Pearson has trained, guided and inspired his coworkers throughout his career. He is a beloved family man whose wife, children and grandchildren depend on him as a primary breadwinner to their collective household. This move to termination on a first offense is excessive and, given the mitigating factors, it was not justified.
We demand Buckeye right this wrong by immediately reinstating Robert Pearson, with full back pay.
Respectfully,
The Undersigned