USW, refinery strikes end with last site in Texas

Source: The Advertiser

Ken Stickney

United Steel Workers employees at Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay Refinery will return to work July 6 after a four-month unfair labor practice strike. The refinery, in Texas City, Texas was the last site among 15 nationally where agreement was reached between union members and plant operators.

USW spokeswoman Lynne Hancock said Thursday that voting on the four-year contract in Galveston occurred Monday and Tuesday. The local represents 1,175 workers at Texas City, near Galveston. Neither contract details nor the vote count were revealed.

The national strike began in February at nine sites and spread to 15 refineries, chemical plants and a cogeneration plant; at its most widespread point it involved as many as 7,000 employees, the USW said. Three affected plants were in Louisiana: the Motiva plants in Norco and Convent and a Shell chemical plant in Norco.

Agreements were reached at the Louisiana plants in March, while local issues kept the strike going at the Galveston Bay Refinery. That site, formerly operated by BP, was purchased by Marathon Petroleum Co. in 2013. It refines 451,000 barrels of oil a day, the company says on its website.

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A four-month refinery strike ended this week in Texas.
(Photo: AP)

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