About 230 workers at the Tesoro Anacortes Refinery in Washington are among 3,800 members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) on strike at nine U.S. refineries.
The workers walked out Feb. 1 at five refineries in Texas, two in California, and one in Kentucky. It is the union’s largest strike since 1980.
USW is bargaining with Royal Dutch Shell, which is serving as the lead company in national oil bargaining. Whenever this deal gets settled, the contract terms will be used as a model for other companies within the industry.
Negotiations started Jan. 21.
The union is seeking a three-year deal. Sticking points are staffing and maintenance, including the use of contract employees.
USW represents about 30,000 workers at 65 U.S. refineries and over 230 refineries, oil terminals, pipelines and petrochemical facilities in the U.S. The facilities not targeted for strike are operating under a rolling 24-hour contract extension. This includes a Shell refinery in Anacortes.
Hopefully, this strike wont last to long and things are resolved on both sides, just meet in the middle people.