U.S. Refinery Strike Widens

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. refinery strike widened as workers at the nation's largest refinery walked off their jobs at 12 a.m. CST (0600 GMT) on Saturday, according to the United Steelworkers union (USW).

Date: 21 February 2015 - 21:42

News ID: ۱۱۲۰۳

Shortly after talks between union and oil company representatives ended on Friday night, the union notified Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] of a strike by its members at the company's 600,250 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
The USW also gave notices on Friday of strikes to begin in 24 hours at Motiva's 235,000 bpd Convent, Louisiana and 238,000 bpd Norco, Louisiana refineries and the Shell Oil Co chemical plant in Norco, the union said.
"The industry’s refusal to meaningfully address safety issues through good faith bargaining gave us no other option but to expand our work stoppage," USW International President Leo Gerard said in a statement.
Motiva is a 50-50 joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL]. Shell's U.S. arm Shell Oil Co is the lead oil company negotiator in talks with the USW for a national agreement on safety, pay and benefits.
A Shell spokesman said the company was disappointed by the Port Arthur walkout and strike notices to the Louisiana plants.
"We believe this move sets the wrong tone for both parties to move forward and reach an agreement," said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher. "We remain committed to continued safe operations and productive negotiations."
If no agreement is reached between Shell and the USW by early Sunday morning, a total of 6,550 workers at 15 plants, including 12 refineries accounting for 18.5 percent of U.S. production capacity, will be walking picket lines in the largest national refinery strike since 1980.
This is the first expansion of the strike since Feb. 6, when workers at BP Plc-operated refineries in Indiana and Ohio were told to begin a work stoppage the following day.
Workers are already on strike at Shell's 327,000 bpd joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, and an adjoining chemical plant. The Deer Park workforce walked out when the strike began on Feb. 1.