Oil companies, union reach agreement on U.S. refinery workers contract
Oil companies led by Marathon Petroleum and the United Steelworkers union (USW) agreed to a new national contract on Friday for 30,000 U.S. workers in refineries, chemical plants, and pipelines, said sources familiar with the agreement.
Once ratified, workers will receive a 12% pay increase over the four-year term of the agreement, the sources said.
Spokespeople for the USW and Marathon were not immediately available on Friday afternoon to comment.
Talks between Marathon and the Steelworkers had been stalled since Jan. 31 until early this week when the two sides resumed meeting, the sources said.
Negotiations had stopped on Jan. 31 when USW negotiators rejected a 9% increase over three years and authorized the current contract to be extended on a 24-hour rolling basis.
The current contract will remain in effect until the new contract is ratified.
USW local unions will now combine the national agreement with agreements on site-specific issues at each refinery, chemical plant and pipeline and put the combined contracts to ratification votes.
After talks stopped on Jan. 31, the USW carried out a series of protests outside refineries across the U.S., which, the sources said, pushed other companies to pressure Marathon in resuming talks and increasing the pay offer as well as moving on other issues.
Among the other issues is agreement to appoint union health and safety representatives at each facility.
The pay increases are not evenly split between the four years, the sources said.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
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