Striking US refinery workers plan weekend rallies

OREANDA-NEWS. Striking union refinery workers and plant owners appeared no closer to a contract agreement today as unions planned weekend rallies and executives maintained normal operations.

Work stoppages for United Steelworker (USW) employees at 10 refining sites in the US Gulf coast, midcontinent and US west coast continued for a fourth day following a breakdown in talks. Union and refinery negotiators met again last night.

USW organizers called for supporters to rally at refinery gates and union halls on 7 February. The union also staged protests outside a LyondellBasell shareholder meeting in Houston, Texas, earlier this week.

Refiners continued to operate the facilities using contract workers and managers, and described little impact on operations with the exception of Tesoro's Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California. Tesoro idled the refinery, which was already at reduced capacity during maintenance, earlier this week.

Marathon Petroleum's chief executive Gary Heminger said during an earnings call today the transition to non-union operations at its Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and Texas City, Texas, refineries was "a very clean turnover."

"We're well prepared, we were well trained, and, when you have these types of incidents, you have to be prepared," Heminger said. "We'll continue to see how this plays out."

Workers have given strike notifications at the 268,000 b/d LyondellBasell refinery in Houston, Texas; Marathon Petroleum's 475,000 b/d refinery in Texas City and 240,000 b/d refinery in Catlettsburg; Shell's 340,000 b/d joint venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas; ExxonMobil's 348,000 b/d refinery in Beaumont, Texas; and at Tesoro's 68,000 b/d Mandan, North Dakota, 120,000 b/d Anacortes, Washington, 260,000 b/d Carson, California, and 168,000 b/d Martinez refineries.