2012 National Oil Bargaining Page
Tesoro Wants A Strike?
Might seem so. Tesoro has shown no signs of bargaining in good faith, instead taking the old "take it or leave it" approach. Contract offers (last, best, final) have now been rejected at the Kapolei (Hawaii), Anacortes (Washington), and Martinez (California) refineries.
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) --
United Steelworkers union members at Tesoro Corp.’s
refineries in Northern California and Washington state
rejected the company’s contract offers, according to four
people with knowledge of the union votes.
Ninety-nine percent of USW members at the
170,000-barrel-a- day Martinez
refinery in California, the largest plant in Tesoro’s
system, voted down the company’s “last, best and final
offer,” said the people, who declined to be identified
because the information isn’t public. Workers at the
Anacortes plant in Washington also rejected the proposal,
two people said.
Martinez and Anacortes are the two latest
Tesoro sites to turn down the company’s offers. The
union local at the 95,000- barrel-a-day Kapolei
refinery in Hawaii rejected a proposal Feb.
13. Workers at plants in Anacortes;
Martinez; Kapolei;
Mandan, North Dakota; and Salt Lake City; totaling
508,000 barrels a day in capacity, may strike if they don’t
reach settlements.
Tina Barbee, a
Tesoro spokeswoman at the company’s headquarters in
San Antonio, didn’t immediately return e-mailed and
telephone messages left after business hours. Barbee said in
an e-mail yesterday that the company is looking forward “to
successful ratification of all agreements.”
Union workers at the five refineries have been
working on 24-hour rolling extensions of contracts that were
set to expire Jan. 31.
The premium of California-blend gasoline in San
Francisco to futures traded on the New York Mercantile
Exchange weakened by 6 cents to 24 cents a gallon, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fuel has risen 23 percent
since the union local at the Kapolei plant rejected Tesoro
’s offer.
Contract Provisions
Workers at the five refineries are opposed to a
provision in Tesoro ’s offers that would allow the company
to alter retirement plans, health care benefits and vacation
time at a later date, four people said. Tesoro
is demanding “the unfettered right” to change
language, Ron Espinoza, a union representative for Martinez
, said Feb. 12.
The union’s national negotiating team and Royal Dutch
Shell Plc averted a potential general strike Jan. 31 by
tentatively agreeing to a contract that includes pay
increases of 2.5 percent in the first year and 3 percent in
the second and third years, three labor representatives with
knowledge of the negotiations said Jan. 31.
Other companies involved include Tesoro,
Valero Energy Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. , BP Plc ,
ConocoPhillips,
Chevron Corp. , Marathon Oil Corp., Sunoco Inc. and PBF
Energy Inc.
The national agreement becomes the pattern that
Tesoro and other
refiners use in negotiating local contracts. Individual
units may still decide to strike if the companies offer
terms that don’t mirror those of the national agreement or
can’t agree on language for local issues, such as job
duties.
On a good note, the Tesoro Mandan site (North Dakota) recently won an NLRB ruling related to benefits. In short, the NLRB found Tesoro in violation of the National Labor Relations Act and ruled that Tesoro should:
cease and desist the unlawful practice(s)
bargain with the Union - including restoring the benefits and paying interest
For the full ruling, go here.
A Good Defense Is A Good Offense
You should all be aware that this bargaining session is setting itself up to be the most contentious in decades. Our primary goal is to protect ourselves. We do not believe the oil companies have put workplace safety as the primary goal. Workers continue to be hurt or killed on the job. The recent NEP (PSM) audits found an almost universal failure to fulfill the requirements of PSM. We strongly urge our members to prepare themselves for some form of labor action.
In the event of a strike, the strike committee has set up the following hours:
First two weeks: 10AM - 5PM Monday through Saturday
Following weeks: 10AM - 5PM Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10AM - 10PM Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday
The Strike and Relief Committee will be located in the lobby of our Union hall.
To receive assistance during a strike, you will need to fill out a Request For Assistance form.
The rules on how the International Strike and Defense Fund operates can be found here.
To stay informed of where the International is in regards to
negotiations, the International has set up the
Oil Bargaining web site, the
Oil Bargaining Facebook page, and the
USW Twitter Feed.