Oil workers strike:
The plants on strike account for 10 percent of U.S. refinery capacity. One site has curbed production and a full walkout of USW workers would threaten to disrupt as much as 64 percent of U.S. fuel output. Union leaders haven’t called a strike nationally since 1980, when a stoppage lasted three months. Shell and union officials began negotiations on Jan. 21 amid the biggest collapse in oil prices since 2008.
Why?
“We told Shell that we were willing to continue bargaining for a fair agreement that would benefit the workers and the industry, but they just refused to return to the table,” said USW International Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union’s National Oil Bargaining Program.
“This work stoppage is about onerous overtime; unsafe staffing levels; dangerous conditions the industry continues to ignore; the daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that threaten local communities without the industry doing much about it; the industry’s refusal to make opportunities for workers in the trade crafts; the flagrant contracting out that impacts health and safety on the job; and the erosion of our workplace, where qualified and experienced union workers are replaced by contractors when they leave or retire,” Beevers added.