Workers may strike at 11 Houston-area refineries

Someone forwarded this article to me this morning. Although I already knew about this months ago, people are getting antsy. I have been on both sides of the fence and see both points of view. But I will keep my position to myself. I will be one of the ones working if their is a strike and have been training other salaried personnel in case of the strike (Work stoppage is the correct term )







http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6235767.html



Workers at 11 area refineries and chemical plants could go on strike as early as Sunday if ongoing negotiations fail to produce a new contract.

Labor agreements that cover 30,000 energy and chemical workers nationwide, including 4,200 Houston-area employees, expire at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Key remaining sticking points are wages, medical insurance, and health and safety concerns, said Alan Barnes, treasurer of the United Steelworkers union Local 13-1.

So far, union negotiators have rejected two contract offers. The most recent one called for a 2.5 percent raise the first year and 2 percent raise in each of the second and third years of the contract, Barnes said.

The union, which is meeting in Austin with officials from Shell Oil Co., lead negotiator for the energy industry, have said previously that workers are seeking “substantial” wage increases. Barnes said union officials were waiting for another contract offer to arrive late Wednesday.

Local facilities affected by the contract talks include Shell’s Deer Park refinery, chemical plant and chemical lab; BP’s Texas City refinery and chemical plant; INEOS NOVA chemical in Texas City; Chevron-Phillips Chemical Co.’s plant in Pasadena; LyondellBasell Industries’ refinery in Houston; BP Pipeline; and Pasadena Refining System.
Squeezed margins



While union officials say they’re ready to strike if they must, they’d be doing it at a time of squeezed refining margins — the difference between what a refiner pays for a barrel of crude and what it gets for the products made from it.

If they do walk out, companies could save money in the long run because of “very, very poor” margins in the current market, said Peter Beutel, oil analyst and president of Cameron Hanover in New Canaan, Conn. He pointed out he is not taking a side.

On Tuesday, Valero Energy Corp. said it was shutting down its refinery in Texas City instead of keeping parts of it open while it performs regular maintenance. Typically, a refinery keeps running units that aren’t undergoing work so its owner can keep selling products.

BP told employees and union leaders it would not train replacement workers to operate refineries in the event of a strike. Spokesman Michael Marr said that the company believed that strike training would stop or even reverse its progress on a safety initiative. Marr said the company is optimistic about reaching an agreement.
Backups at LyondellBasell



LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery has trained management personnel to operate its 700-acre plant, spokesman David Harpole said. About 500 refinery workers are represented by the union.

Tom Strifler, vice president of manufacturing for INEOS NOVA, said the chemical plant in Texas City is down and hasn’t been restarted since Hurricane Ike. The company doesn’t plan to restart until market conditions improve. Marathon’s refinery in Texas City and Exxon Mobil’s in Baytown also are part of the bargaining, but their contracts don’t expire until later.

Even if a national deal is agreed upon, workers at individual refineries can strike over local issues. And Barnes said that’s a possibility for the 900 workers at Shell’s Deer Park refinery and chemical plant.

One of the sticking points is a proposal by Shell to limit the amount of overtime each employee can work to 30 percent of their normal annual hours to prevent fatigue. But management reserves the right to waive the rule and requires some employees to work more overtime than the cap permits, said Barnes.

The union also is upset with Shell’s proposal to stop using a seniority system for assignments and to replace more employees with contract workers, said Barnes.

“Shell is committed to providing a safe workplace for our employees, contractors and local communities,” said David McKinney, communications manager at Shell Deer Park. “The changes we propose in the contract with USW regarding overtime and excessive job changes are intended to do just that.”

I dare those idiots at Ineos and Lyondell Bissel to go on strike. Hell, LB filed f'ing chapter 11 becuase they have more debt (33 bil) than assetts (30 bil). Guess the ship channel could always use a few more ditch diggers.

I encourage them to do so though, because my peeps will gladly take the business from them.

I have been through the whole negotiations thing as a union worker and dont miss it at all. I was glad to have a job and we all made good money - its hard to get solidarity when everyone is extended to the max in dept. Good luck to them cause it is going to be tough. I have a buddy who works for Sonoco and they are shutting his plant down.... have a nice life and good luck landing the 90k a year job that you just lost. I don't know their situation but I hope they realize what is on the line. Crown went on strike years ago and the company locked the gate and never hired them back if I remember correctly.

I can remember making just enough for a truck note and beer money while in the army and then only 30k as a cop in Houston I had to work road jobs, car lots and bars for extra money. And vacation.... forget about having enough money for that.

The cops in Galveston just took a 3% pay cut so their coworkers wouldnt get layed off..... now that's solidarity worth tipping your hat to.

Don't take me the wrong way, I wish no ill will on these people, but Ineos has been sold and renamed 4 times and LB is just in no shape to handle one of these things. The USU is just a bunch of inept fools that are only going to help their "brothers" lose high paying jobs that they won't be able to recover. It's not like these companies are walking all over their employees, and the health and safety stuff is just a bullshit attempt to gain public support, except maybe at BP.

They really must not realize just how good they have it.

Mr.RonGilbert wrote:

Crown went on strike years ago and the company locked the gate and never hired them back if I remember correctly.

Actually the union was locked out. There never was a strike. They were locked out for 5 years before returning.

just means higher gas prices for all

If L-B does this I know 3 ethylene crackers in Longview that are going to start going full bore.

TxCrawler wrote:

Mr.RonGilbert wrote:

Crown went on strike years ago and the company locked the gate and never hired them back if I remember correctly.

Actually the union was locked out. There never was a strike. They were locked out for 5 years before returning.

Thanks for clearing that up. I knew it something like that. A lockout is just a companies version of a strike..... right?

Either way a bad situation.