“In addition to health and safety issues, contracting out and health care, the USW unfair labor practice (ULP) strike is over the oil companies’ bad faith bargaining, including the refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects; undue delays in providing information; impeded bargaining; and threats issued to workers if they joined the ULP strike,” the union said in a statement.
When launching the strike, the USW said that the work stoppage is about dangerous working conditions, the daily occurrence of fires, leaks and explosions threatening local communities, as well as low salaries.
In a new national contract, the union wants to double the annual pay increases, improve health care coverage, and to reduce the number of contract workers.
The union represents 850,000 workers at 65 US refineries that produce 64 percent of the country's oil, according to its website.
