...Union leaders haven’t called a strike nationally since 1980, when a stoppage lasted three months. While only one of the nine plants has curbed production amid the stoppage, a full walkout of USW workers would threaten to disrupt as much as 64 percent of U.S. fuel output....
United Steelworkers members do everything from operating units to performing maintenance to testing and analyzing samples in labs at U.S. refineries, Hancock said.
The refineries on strike can produce 1.82 million barrels of fuel a day, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They span the U.S., from Tesoro’s plants in Martinez and Carson, California; and Anacortes, Washington, to Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s Catlettsburg complex in Kentucky to three sites in Texas, according to the USW’s statement.
In Texas, Shell’s Deer Park complex, Marathon’s Galveston Bay plant and LyondellBasell Industries NV’s Houston facility are affected, according to the union. LyondellBasell activated its work-continuation plan, according to spokesman George Smalley on Sunday....
Tesoro is shutting process units at Martinez, Tina Barbee, a spokeswoman at the company’s headquarters in San Antonio, said by e-mail on Monday. The facility already had about half its processing capacity offline for maintenance. The company has “successfully transitioned and are operating” the Anacortes and Carson refineries, Barbee said.
More refineries are standing by to join the sites on strike, according to two people familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public....
I'm going to ask my boss for this today...
Fire all striking workers. I am sure there are plenty of oil rig workers in Texas and the Dakotas who would gladly take those jobs. At least until oil prices rose again.