I've been in the labor force for 35 years now. Suffice to say, I could have gone my whole career with out experiencing a Labor Strike. My Union, the United Steel Workers, represents roughly 65% of the hourly Refinery regular work force in the United States. I've been a Union member in the Industry for 25 years now. On Feb 1, after turning down the latest horrible offer from Shell Oil, the Union called on 9 US oil refineries to go on strike. Mine was one off those 9. We are now up to 15 refinery and chemical plants on strike.
The jist of the gripe we have has nothing to do with wages. The Oil companies are trying to pull out contract language regarding retrogression and successorship. If this language is pulled, the next company that swoops in to buy my refinery can basically lay us all off, and hire back who they want. In doing this they can reduce pay and benefits significantly. This exact scenario happened in the '90's to the refinery across the street from ours. Tosco bought them after Shell was able to remove successorship language. Tosco then laid off ALL the hourly employees and hired back those who had employee issues such as attendance, incured high medical costs on the company (Insurance), or just didn't brown nose the right managers. In the last 15 years, my refinery has been owned by 3 companies, ARCO, British Petroleum, and now Tesoro. That being said, it's obvious the worst case scenario can happen. We can be sold, and all shit canned if the language in our contract is removed.
Other hotbed issues are the hiring of contractors to do maintenance and even Operations work to replace Represented employees who have retired or left the Refinery. Off course they're able to do this utilizing lower pay scales and lower (if any) benefits. It's obvious, to us, that the major corporations in the US just want to have a Board of Directors, and then sub-contract everyone else. Extreme example? Maybe, but it sure seems that way. In the last 10-20 years we've seen Pensions virtually dissapear in the US workplace. Health care being erroded down to crap, yet costing the employee more out of pocket. It's a helluva lot cheaper for them to pay a sub $30 and hour instead of $40 an hour, medical, 401k, life insurance, etc... Especially since the Oil companies don't make enough profit right now....
The biggest issue with the replacement contractors, and contractors in general at our yard is predominantly safety. I work on a daily basis with contractors. I understand what they go through to stay employed. As a Union represented employee I'm able to make overt strides, and even demands for safety when it's warranted against management. The Contractors can not. I've had contractors I know come to me with issues instead of going to their bosses for this exact reason. Which Im 100% OK with for sure!! They're told they can report anything unsafe, but in reality If a contract employee complains about an unsafe practice, they're removed from the job. I see the practice daily. So Imagine if EVERY Crafts person and Process Operator was unable to bring up safety issues with out fear of losing their jobs? Now, if it wasn't for us putting managements feet to the fire over safety, the accident, injury and fatality rates would probably be much higher. There's also something to be said for skilled, experienced workers over non experienced. For me, as a Process Operator, actually a Head Operator on my Unit, I know that it takes at least 3-5 years for an Operator to REALLY be of value to me. If you constantly have a turnover in these jobs no one will ever learn the nuances of the Unit or plant and have their value to the company optimized.
Now, I've been Union for the last 25 years like I mentioned. I've been on a negotiating committee before, and have a little practical Union knowledge and experience. That being said, I wouldn't say I'm gung ho "Union". I see pros and cons of labor Unions. Right now though, those pros are shining through a bit more. The realization that everything I have now, is because someone over the last 60 years or so has negotiated hard for it all. That's something that non-represented folks don't have. There's the rare case where a company will do the right thing and foster a healthy and profitable climate for their employees, but it's seemingly less and less these days.
We're 6 weeks into the strike, and we've had about 30 out of 800 in my plant cross the picket lines to become "Scabs". I try to take into account that everyone's bills, family needs, savings, etc... are unique. Some will have a harder time than others. That being said, it chaps my hide a bit that those same people are going to receive the same contract and benefits we will get after the strike is resolved and a contract is in place. They're getting a paycheck and medical benefits right now while the rest off us are not. There are some things in life that you have to take a stand for. For ME this is one of those times to stand firm. While I only have 8 more years before retirement, I still want the security and ability to achieve that goal. Funny.... a lot of the folks who have crossed the line are younger. I see a LOT of shortsightedness in folks who are willing to give into the "Now" and not think off the next 20-30 years of their careers. But, maybe they're OK being paid less with no company retirement or decent medical insurance.
If you read this far, thanks for listening to my rant. I put this thread here because I don't go into the political threads. If this needs to be moved there I understand, but I hope not
Topic: Labor Strike...week 6.... (Read 1025 times)