Workers at Marathon’s Texas City GBR refinery were in the process of “transitioning” from working their shifts to walking off the job Medley said.
“They should be done with that by early (Sunday) morning,” Medley said at 12:45 a.m.
Normally, a walkout would be preceded by union workers working with company officials to shut down operating units. That did not appear to the case in Texas City where Medley said Marathon officials planned to keep units running under the control of salaried employees.
Marathon’s salaried workers, who are not covered under the union contract, had been shadowing hourly workers for weeks in anticipation of a strike, union officials confirmed.
Some union members gathered at the union hall at about 11 p.m. Saturday in preparation to start picketing Sunday morning. Some of Texas City’s USW members walked a small picket line just after 12:01 a.m. Sunday, but left to regroup for a coordinated picket Sunday morning.
By sunrise several USW members were picketing across the street from the Galveston Bay Refinery and Cogeneration facility.
http://www.galvestondailynews.com/free/article_fdb1737a-a9dc-11e4-8178-0f2b540e7028.html
Are there any non-union refineries? I thought Exxon was entirely non-union.