Militant/Danielle London

Workers Feb. 3 picket office of LyondellBasell, owner of one of refineries in national strike.
BY BOB SAMSON
Source: The Militant

HOUSTON — Some 3,800 oil workers at nine refineries in Texas, California, Kentucky and Washington went on strike, or were involved in shutdown procedures in preparation to walk out, Feb. 1 after the United Steelworkers union and oil companies failed to reach a contract agreement. This is the first nationwide strike since 1980.
The union represents 30,000 members at 230 refineries, oil terminals, pipelines and petrochemical plants. The union-organized refineries produce 64 percent of oil in the U.S. The refineries not on strike are operating under a day-to-day contract extension. All but one of the struck refineries are being operated by management and in some cases strikebreaking contractors.

Safety is a central issue in the dispute.

“The company wants to take away union safety representatives and replace them with people of their choice,” pipefitter Jimmy Bear told the Militant at the picket in front of Marathon’s Texas City refinery Feb. 1. Workers picketing at LyondellBasell in Houston said the company wants to increase their already costly health insurance. Others pointed out that the company wants to substantially reduce overtime pay when they work their off days.

Hundreds came to the union headquarters in Texas City the morning the strike started to sign up for picket duty. Days before the walkout, hundreds of oil workers joined protests in front of refineries.

“We’re trying to keep our wages up,” Joshua Lege, who works at the LyondellBasell refinery in Houston, told the Militant. He was helping lead chants at the Jan. 28 rally in front of the plant. “We’re trying to hold the line. The cost of everything is going up. With the loss of benefits and pensions, who can afford to retire?”

“This work stoppage is about onerous overtime; unsafe staffing levels; dangerous conditions the industry continues to ignore; the daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that threaten local communities,” said Steelworkers International Vice President Gary Beevers, head of the union’s Oil Bargaining council, in a Feb. 1 statement.

The strike comes as oil prices have plunged and layoffs have risen. Baker-Hughes, an oil field service company, announced it was laying off 7,000 workers.

Even with the fall in oil prices, Royal Dutch Shell, the lead employer in talks with the union, announced 2014 profits of $14.87 billion Jan. 30.