By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor
WASHINGTON D.C., United Sates of America – A strike carried out by refinery workers in the United States will likely widen to 11 refinery plants late Saturday night as planned walkouts have been scheduled at BP plc refineries in India and Ohio. Currently approximately 4,000 workers represented by the United Steel Workers Union (USW), which represents hourly workers at the 65 U.S. refineries, are on strike in nine plants in California, Kentucky and Texas including seven refineries that account for about 10% of the nation’s refining capacity. The action is the largest strike in the oil refinery sector since 1980. The United Steel Workers represent workers at 65 American oil refineries that produce approximately 64 percent of nation’s refined oil. The USW was in negotiations as part of the collective bargaining process with Shell Oil (Royal Dutch Shell) as part of a national pattern bargaining process when Shell walked away from the labor negotiating triggering the strike.
Among other requests, the union is demanding a better policy to prevent workplace fatigue, which federal officials have said contributes to dangerous refinery accidents. According to the United Steel Workers union the union’s primary concern in calling for future strikes is the health and safety concerns of hourly workers at U.S. refineries. USW Local 12-591 President Steve Garey argued that urgent safety concerns forced the 3,800 oil workers to walk out on Feb. 1. The Local 12-591 staffs the Tesoro refinery which is one of nine USW facilities that are currently on strike.
USW International Vice-President Tom Conway argued the strikes are focused on the Union’s safety demands. “This strike is about safe staffing levels inside the refineries and staffing levels of our maintenance workforces and having safe and reliable staffing in the refineries. And the situation that exists today just has become unacceptable,” said Conway. “We have people who are working twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen continuous days without a day off on 12 hour shifts. And people are stressed with an amazing amount of overtime and fatigues and sleep deprivation. It’s dangerous. It’s a dangerous way to run an operation like a fuel refinery.”
“We didn’t seek this strike,” Conway said, arguing his union is ready to return to the bargaining table, “We’re not lookin’ for it. But we need problems solved. And just an intransigent attitude from them isn’t gonna get us there. It’s not going to solve the problem. So hopefully they look at these in a genuine way and come back and are willing to sit with us and have an honest discussion about how do we make sure we have a well-trained adequate workforce. They don’t seem to us to be difficult discussions that a management should be so unwilling to have with its workforce.”
A United Steel Workers spokeswoman confirmed that notices of intent to strike had been given to the BP (formally British Petroleum) refineries in Indiana and Ohio .BP spokesman Scott Dean said the two refineries were operating normally on Friday. The Spokesperson also announced the company’s intention to hire temporary replacement workers to take the jobs of the workers represented by the union, known as “scabs” within the Union community.
For more information please see:
Bloomberg Business – U.S. Oil Workers’ Strike Expands To BP Plants with Talks on Hold – 6 February 2015
Reuters – UPDATE 1-U.S. Refineries Strike To Widen As Walkouts Planned At BP Plants – 6 February 2015
United Steel Workers – Health and Safety Must Come First In Oil Bargaining – 6 February 2015
United Steel Workers – WIN News Report: Steelworkers Refinery Strike Is About Safe Staffing – 4 February 2015
