National Oil Bargaining Talks Break Down:USW Calls for Work Stoppage at Nine Oil Refineries,Plants

The United Steelworkers Union (USW) ^ | Feb 01, 2015 | The United Steelworkers Union (USW)

[noinfringers2]

In many years of being in and observing workplace unions I have concluded that so called unions of any ilk are not much more than money makers for a few connected ‘gangsters’. I am constantly reminded of when I was on a ship crossing the Pacific to Leyte in WWII. The seamen supposedly all US hyped never ceased trying to get to be the money handlers in our shipboard crap shoots. The seamen thought they had us by the testicles while being transported. So/to much for this stuff that we are all US persons from that group of ‘union’ persons.

[txhurl]

Gee. Could it all be connected?!

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But, wait! there’s more! Scott Walker will ride in, SUPERMAN that he recently got elevated to, and bring 100K displaced oil & gas workers, bring the plants back online, FIRE all the union scalawags and save the industry!

[DakotaGator]

Don’t touch that dial. Stay tuned for more of; “As the Nation Squirms!”

[fella]

Idling a refinery at this time of year can cause major problems when it is fired back up. Hot gases and liquids running into cold pipes and vessels puts lots of stress on the metal.

[Milton Miteybad]

Hold on there...one group of "United Steelworkers," who are really in the basic steel business are losing their jobs because the demand of oilfield steel is down due to low commodity prices. On the other had, another group of "United Steelworkers," who actually work in the refining business, not the basic steel business, are preparing to walk off the job because of some imagined financial slight to their delicate sensibilities by the big, bad oil companies.

Makes you wonder if the real Steelworkers know what these other fake Steelworkers are up to.

[9thLife]

Is this one of those headlines from the microfiche archives?

[VTenigma]

I smell Obola and Axeljerk.

[SgtHooper]

Texas is a right-to-work state, is it not?

[deport]

Another thread if anyone is interested in reading the comments thereon:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3252998/posts
Union strikes at 9 US refineries in bid for new contract

[deport]

A couple of Fuel Fix articles:

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/01/31/united-steelworkers-union-calls-saturdays-industry-proposal-insulting/

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/02/01/refinery-strikes-unlikely-to-move-gasoline-oil-prices/

[elpadre]

two bits says the order was from the WH to the union chiefs - strike the refineries - get gas prices up!!

Remember Obama threatened $5.00 p/gal gas before he left office.

[MSF BU]

The owner/operators at Nucor are doing just fine.

[MSF BU]

Are there any non-union refineries? I thought Exxon was entirely non-union.

[centurion316]

It is, but that does not mean that Shell will choose to continue operations.

[rllngrk33]

“The problem is that oil companies unions are too greedy to make a positive change in the workplace and they continue to value production and profit over health and safety wages and benefits over workers and the community. ... When the industry union comes to its senses, we are more than willing to meet them at the bargaining table and negotiate a fair pattern agreement that will help everyone,” Conway added.

I'd like to see a statement like that from industry.

[Fred Hayek]

I suspect OCAW (Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers) got absorbed by USW. USW is now involved in a lot of other areas outside of the steel industry, including service industry.

[Fred Hayek]

Nucor - I worked on a Nucor project during my days at SMS Concast (continuous casting machines). The package that the people at Nucor got was far more generous than the best union package. Add to that the workers (owner/operators) insisted on being cross trained since if a machine was down, that was lost production. So the operators were also trained on how to properly do repairs.

One other steel mills (Great Lakes Steel, Ecorse, MI) had a similar arrangement even though that was USW Local 88. In this case the tonnage bonus made up a big part of the compensation.

[rrrod]

This doesnt just “happen”. Obama has warned about not getting used to “cheap” gas. We may see gas rationing/no gas/martial law/riots/food shortages/and you name it if gasoline and other fuels is shut off.
Union scum will do as they are told by obola and the union bosses. Union scum are about as pro US as the Taliban....

[Milton Miteybad]

I know that's exactly what happened, around 1999, I think. The USW had to branch out into organizing other trades and occupation because by the time the Steelworkers had finished sending the basic steel industry packing to Japan and South Korea with their ridiculous contract demands, there were only about 37 actual steelworkers left in the U.S.

I guess they still call themselves "Steelworkers" these days because if their name reflected their true current membership (United Federation of Housekeepers, Meter Maids and File Clerks, for instance) it would provide a hearty laugh for those who remember when that union actually could claim some steel and iron workers among the rank and file.