Steelworkers strike extends to BP plants outside Texas

Fuel Fix ^ | February 7, 2015 | LM Sixel

[thackney]

The United Steelworkers union is broadening its nationwide walkout to include two more refineries.

Early Sunday, the union is planning to go on strike against two BP facilities in the Midwest, union spokeswoman Lynne Hancock confirmed. That will bring the total number of plants on strike to 11, after union members walked out of nine facilities, including five in the Houston area, a week ago.

The latest work stoppages are scheduled to begin 12:01 a.m. Sunday at BP’s refineries in Toledo, Ohio and Whiting, Ind., Hancock said.

BP issued a statement saying it is disappointed the union is launching a strike at both the Whiting Refinery and BP-Husky Toledo Refinery.

“BP remains at the negotiating table and is committed to reaching an agreement that provides good wages while giving management the flexibility it needs to enhance safety, improve efficiency and remain competitive with others in the industry,” BP spokesman Scott Dean said in a written statement.

The company added that it is committed to ensuring a safe and orderly transition at 11:59 p.m. Saturday night. BP has trained replacement workers made up primarily of current and former BP employees to operate the refinery for the duration of this strike, Dean said.

“We hope this strike will be as short as possible and for workers to return with a contract that ensures long-term prosperity for everyone,” BP said.

The union, which represents 30,000 workers at refineries, chemical plants, pipelines and oil terminals nationwide, including 5,000 in the Houston area, went on strike against nine facilities early Sunday after its negotiations with Shell Oil Co. broke down.

Shell is representing the oil industry at the bargaining table.

Negotiations resumed, but the union turned down Shell’s latest contract proposal on Wednesday.

The union is striking over health and safety issues, excessive overtime and contracting out of jobs.

Hancock characterized the disputes as unfalr labor practices and accused Shell of “bad faith bargaining” by refusing to give relevant information to the union and threatening retaliation against the strikers.

When workers strike over economic issues such as higher wages, a company can permanently replace the strikers. But when a strike is considered an unfair labor practice dispute, a company cannot permanently replace the striking workers, Hancock said.

“We are not aware of any unfair labor practice charges filed against Shell,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said in a prepared statement.

“We regret that we have been unable to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement with USW prior to contract expiration,” Fisher added. “We remain committed to resolving the remaining issues through collective bargaining at the bargaining table. We remain committed to providing competitive pay and benefits to our employees in an environment where people want to grow, develop and provide for their families.”

The Steelworkers union represents more than 230 refineries, oil terminals, pipelines and petrochemical facilities in the U.S. Of those, 65 are refineries that produce nearly two-thirds of the oil in the nation.

While the union called strikes at 11 facilities, union members continue to work as usual at the other plants are operating under “rolling 24-hour” contract extensions, which extend contracts a day at a time until negotiators reach an agreement or one side calls off the extension.

In addition to the national talks, local unions are also negotiating issues at individual sites.

[dynoman]

You are proving my point.

[RFEngineer]

Do you even know what a “strawman” is?

[re_nortex]

Let’s be quite clear here. No “union” creates jobs, indeed they impede job creation.

That really says it all, concisely and truthfully. They are not job creators but looters, solely dependent upon the business owners and entrepreneur that takes the considerable risks to bring a product and/or service to market. And after such risks are taken, what do unions do? They leech on those with the enterprise and initiative to actually create something worthwhile. Unionism is a fetid swamp where productivity goes to rot and die.

[RFEngineer]

“You are proving my point.”

You do not have a point. You claim that the only way one can succeed and join the middle class is to be a union member.

Nonsense.

If you have a point, now would be a good time in the debate to tell us all about it.

[Spktyr]

Maybe at your local. Having traveled around to various industry shows to support my then-client’s convention booth... No. Your ‘brother’ electricians throw a hissy fit if anyone so much as plugs a regular power cord in an outlet. And if you let them ‘assemble’ the booth, what you get is a non-working mess that you have to sneak back in and reconnect all the network/data/video/other cables to their proper ports and locations.

And for this we have to PAY them.

[re_nortex]

I really hate to post and run -- if that makes me a "prick" as one of our esteemed colleagues has characterized me, so be it. I do have an early appointment later this morning but I will be watching for any responses in several hours and will respectfully reply.

Why am I so so anti-union. The reasons are numerous and I've outlined a few throughout this thread. But there's also a intensely personal reason.

My hometown.

Though Blessed by God to now be a Texan (where unions are thankfully weak), I was born, raised and spent a good part of my life in Pittsburgh. That city was once a thriving manufacturing center, the arsenal of the world. J&L, USS, Union Electric and others employed hundreds of thousands in the steel mills. Plus the related industries employed even more. Then it all died...quickly. A once flourishing region lost jobs in massive number and the manufacturing base -- once the envy of the world -- vanished. Why? UNIONS! The USWA was foremost among the guilty parties but the Teamsters and other union goon outfits played their part. The union shills claim that it was Ronald Reagan's economic policies that led to the dismantling of a once great American city. That of course is a scurrilous lie. It was Big Labor that caused the ruin.

[dynoman]

“You claim that the only way one can succeed and join the middle class is to be a union member.”

No, I did not claim that. You are creating a strawman you think is me and you are wrong. You have done that at least four times on this thread already. There cannot be a coherent debate if you continue to create fallacious strawmen like that. No matter what you think you do not know better what I think than I do - so don’t act like it. That will be rule one or there will be no debate.

[dynoman]

Your opinion in that post is committing the fallacy of too few alternatives.

[dynoman]

Report them to the International. The International has written a Code of Excellence they want members to follow - the IBEW has fired it’s own members for not living up to it.

[Spktyr]

Yup, did that at one show in Chicago.

One year later? Same thugs, same incompetence, this time they deliberately wrecked a display for our temerity to report them.

Reported them in New York City, same thing.

Year later - at least they didn’t wreck our displays, but they made absolutely sure we were set up dead last.

City after city after city, same crap.

[dynoman]

Who did you report them to?

[Spktyr]

The DC HQ, in the end. We also reported them to their locals at the same time.

The best lot was the ones in Minneapolis who insisted on taking apart our plasma TVs to ‘make sure they were wired to code.’ “Oh, we’re really sorry but those must have been defective. We know where you can get some replacement ones, though.”

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Time to change that tagline I’d say....LOL

[thackney]

All the refineries except one in California were kept running by other staff working overtime.

Rarely are brands of service stations tied to the brand of refineries. Essentially all refineries produce generic gasoline and/or the blending components for terminals to make the local required recipe. As the trucks load from the terminals, the correct brand of additives is squirted in.

It is common for competing name-brand service stations to get their gasoline from the same refinery with only the squirt of additives being different.

[thackney]

Currently about 15% of the US refining capacity is affected.

On strike is not the same as shut down. Only one refinery in California shut down so far. They already were half down due to maintenance/upgrade work.

[mountn man]

Yeah, I figured that plant personel and engineers and whoever else are probably monitoring stuff, I don't know at what capacity. The 15% is just of the refining capacity of the plants affected. Whether actual refining capacity has been cut, I don't know.

The other aspect of gas prices rising can be speculation. Just the perception of a slowdown could bump prices.

There was a fire at BP Whiting a year or so, no real damage, but prices in the area jumped noticeably.

[mountn man]

The union is striking over health and safety issues, excessive overtime and contracting out of jobs.

I guarantee you that they aren't striking over excessive overtime. I was talking to a crane operator at BP Whiting a few years ago. They live off of OT. They have an order of OT. Seldom is the OT MANDATORY. Usually guys are chomping at the bit, for somebody to turn down OT so they can grab more.

You're talking about guys who are making a few $$$ an hour less than outside union contractors, BUT are more or less guaranteed 40 (closer to 50) hours a week (all year), they also get decent vacation days, holidays and a fair amount of personal days.

The operator I was talking to said his WORST year since getting in to BP was $135k + he had 3 weeks vacation, 5 days of personal days and the typical holidays off. None of which he had as an outside contractor.

As an outside contractor, weather could prevent him from working, not at BP. They would still be there "on call" in the barn.

He was virtually beaming, that it was the best decision he ever made.

Now on the other hand, I know what it's like to have plant personel YELLING to RUN, as they try to regain control of a unit that is running wild.

We had evac meeting points just outside the gates. Plant people were there telling us to go to an alternate emergency point another 1/2 mile a way. A 200' flare stack was howling like a jet engine, with another 200' of flame blowing off. Evacs are a fairly regular occurance, once a month or so. Most days a "brisk" walk. Some times a run.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Conservatives believe in the freedom to assemble. No need to change the tag line.