Workers may strike at 11 Houston-area refineries (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/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... (much more at link)

The bosses basically saying that they will shut down if there is a strike? Is that being used as a threat of some kind? As in, they may idle plants and not reopen them indefinitely?

The bosses basically saying that they will shut down if there is a strike? Is that being used as a threat of some kind? As in, they may idle plants and not reopen them indefinitely?


It's worse than that. They are saying, "Make our day..."

http://images.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://www.searchviews.com/wp-content/themes/clean-copy-full-3-column-1/images/dirtyharry.JPG&usg=AFQjCNHjSBERj6_QYViesvJ4I1NqDBTzYg

This (http://web.me.com/gfholloway/Site/Welcome.html) is the United Steelworkers website. Alot of contracts expiring at the end of the month. This afternoon the Houston local got another offer (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6237407.html) from Shell.

A little tangent here, my local is still in impasse (negotiations?) over 200 days now, teacher's "can't" strike in NYS. We thought we had a memorandum of agreement two weeks ago. The negotiators had agreed to terms. the other side said they'd get the papers together for the negotiators to sign and for the union to prepare to present to the members. (this was on a Thursday night, the night before we were going to picket before school started). The union called off the picket saying we had an agreement. This was the three day MLK weekend. Tuesday afternoon came around, board meeting that night, we'd been planning on going in our tee shirts and forming a double line that night, two members, locals who'd lived there all their lives were going to read statements, but the union heads said since we were so close to a deal to call it off (board meetings once a month). Fool me, I didn't go to the board meeting.

Guess what happened late Tuesday afternoon before the board meeting that we didn't hear about until too late? the papers that had been agreed to on Thursday had a section about working conditions, 4 pages, when it came to Tuesday that section had been cut down to three pages with major points deleted...too late the head officers said to call everyone to go to the board meeting... two meetings cancelled due to bad weather... and they haven't called for anymore picketing... >:( in solidarity with all workers here...

The bosses basically saying that they will shut down if there is a strike? Is that being used as a threat of some kind? As in, they may idle plants and not reopen them indefinitely?

That was my interpretation as well. I'm sure they'd idle them, and then use it as an excuse to raise prices because they have decreased refining capacity.

ETA: Mary, that sucks.

The bosses basically saying that they will shut down if there is a strike? Is that being used as a threat of some kind? As in, they may idle plants and not reopen them indefinitely?


It's worse than that. They are saying, "Make our day..."

http://images.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://www.searchviews.com/wp-content/themes/clean-copy-full-3-column-1/images/dirtyharry.JPG&usg=AFQjCNHjSBERj6_QYViesvJ4I1NqDBTzYg


Hell yes, they see it as 'win/win. They get to bust the unions and blame them for any rise in prices at the same time. Divide, conquer and profit.

The bosses basically saying that they will shut down if there is a strike? Is that being used as a threat of some kind? As in, they may idle plants and not reopen them indefinitely?


It's worse than that. They are saying, "Make our day..."

http://images.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://www.searchviews.com/wp-content/themes/clean-copy-full-3-column-1/images/dirtyharry.JPG&usg=AFQjCNHjSBERj6_QYViesvJ4I1NqDBTzYg


Hell yes, they see it as 'win/win. They get to bust the unions and blame them for any rise in prices at the same time. Divide, conquer and profit.


I wasn't thinking that so much as it was them saying "good saves us the trouble of laying you off"

Managers, workers prepare for refinery strike (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6239689.html)

With just hours to go before labor agreements expire at 11 area refineries and chemical plants, workers and company officials were making preparations Friday for a possible strike.

Union members put together picket signs, and companies prepared their plants and management teams for possible work stoppages.

If a new agreement is not reached by 12:01 a.m. Sunday, 30,000 energy and chemical workers nationwide, including 4,200 in the Houston area, could walk off the job.

Union negotiators Thursday night rejected the latest contract offer that would have raised wages 2.5 percent each year for three years. The proposal also offered a one-time $500 ratification bonus and $250 a year to workers for their unreimbursed medical expenses, if they completed an unspecified health and wellness program.

Shell Oil Co., which is representing the energy industry, has been meeting with negotiators of the United Steelworkers Union in Austin.

“I don’t think they’re going particularly well,” Alan Barnes, treasurer of the United Steelworkers union Local 13-1 in Pasadena, said Friday afternoon.
Managers brought in

Meanwhile, LyondellBasell Industries is preparing just in case a strike is called, spokesman David Harpole said. Managers have been brought in from other locations, and they’ve been trained to safely run the refinery, he said.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.’s plastics complex in Pasadena has trained personnel who are prepared to continue running the plant in the event of a work stoppage, spokesman Brian Cain said.

Shell also has plans in place to keep operations going in the event of a work stoppage, according to spokesman Stan Mays.
Shutting down

Other companies, how- ever, are planning to shut down in the event of a strike.

BP is not training replacement workers to run its site in Texas City as well as three other sites, the company said earlier this week.

Valero Energy Corp. is also planning to close its production units in Memphis, Tenn., and Delaware City, Del., if there is a strike, said Bill Day, director of media relations for Valero in San Antonio.

On Tuesday, Valero 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 the units that aren’t undergoing work so its owner can sell products.

Valero’s refinery in Port Arthur will stay open, Day said.
Trained replacements

Replacement workers, who include nonunion employees and members of management, are already on site and have been trained, he said.

The sites in Tennessee and Delaware have been hit harder by the economic downturn than the one in Port Arthur, he said. Between the two, their refining capacity is 405,000 barrels a day.

The Port Arthur site has the capacity to refine 325,000 barrels a day and can process heavier grades of crude oil.

Area facilities affected by the negotiations include Shell’s Deer Park refinery, chemical plant and chemical lab; BP’s Texas City refinery and chemical plant; the INEOS Nova chemical plant in Texas City; Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.’s plant in Pasadena; LyondellBasell Industries’ refinery in Houston; BP Pipeline; and Pasadena Refining System.

lm.sixel@chron.com

Union says refinery contract talks are moving forward (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6243369.html)

Progress is being made in labor contract negotiations between energy companies and the union for about 30,000 refinery and chemical workers nationally, including 4,200 in the Houston area, a union spokeswoman said Monday.

Negotiators for the United Steelworkers Union were meeting in Austin with representatives of Shell Oil Co., which is the lead negotiator for the industry, on the second day of the extension of an old contract that expired early Sunday morning.

“We think we will be in a better position to know exactly where we’re at in the morning,” Lynne Baker, spokeswoman for the United Steelworkers Union, wrote in an e-mail alert Monday afternoon.

Negotiators could strike a new deal — which could happen any time — or the union could give notice that it could strike, Baker said.

Similarly, BP said today in a conference call that there was "no imminent threat" of a U.S. strike, which the company has indicated would cause shutdowns at its affected facilities, including its Texas City refinery and chemical plant.

“We are pleased with the progress we are making with USW,” Iain Conn, the head of BP’s refining and marketing business, said today on a conference call.

Hours before a Sunday morning strike deadline, the National Oil Bargaining Committee received another offer from Shell that would give workers a 3 percent raise for each year of a three-year contact and a $2,500 ratification bonus, according to an update that was provided to its members by the United Steelworkers Union Local 11-470 in Billings, Mont.

The average wage paid to affected workers nationally currently is $30.06 per hour.

Workers would continue to pay 20 percent of their health care costs under the deal, according to the Billings update. Union negotiators had been trying to boost the percentage that companies pay toward their employees’ health care.

The union wants its negotiators to push to “strengthen the safety language” and push for a two-year contract, according to an update on the Billings local’s Web site. The update has since been removed... (more at link)

Hey TBF:

Do you know, Is $30 the honest wage they make or is it including benefits and "legacy" costs? If all that is added in, then they would truthfully be making like maybe half of that per hour -- $15 -- at best.

30,00 striking chemical workers would be a big deal

That's a good question - I'll see if I can find more on that. $30.06 is an average and these are trained people so it could be accurate. It sounds like the safety issues are the main sticking points now, which are critical because some of these refineries are pretty old, and they are dangerous places to work. The BP Plant Explosion (http://www.chemsafety.gov/index.cfm?folder=current_investigations&page=info&INV_ID=52) killing 15 workers and injuring dozens more happened here in Texas City (south of Houston) nearly 4 years ago.

There are miles of these refineries - you can get a glimpse of them driving along route 10 south of Houston:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/08FQehe8zs4tt/610x.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/2666024090_de81fef90f.jpg?v=0
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/GreenHunter.jpg

Interesting story TBF. Thanks.