Nah - they're striking because they can:
BP spokesman Scott Dean told the Chicago Post-Tribune that USW employees are among the highest paid hourly workers in the midwest. “The average BP USW employee earns more than $82,000 a year in base salary. This does not include overtime, bonuses, company retirement contributions or other benefits, which on average adds well in excess of $20,000 to the total annual compensation package for the average BP USW employee.”
How highly paid they are is irrelevant. What their income is worth at the store or the car lot is what counts. When wages do not keep up with inflation you eventually get the major strikes, with the very highly paid as well as with the less well paid.