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 Sources familiar with the negotiations said talks may resume by
mid-week to end the walkout by 6,550 members of the United
Steelworkers union (USW) at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries.
Representatives of both sides said no date has been set to restart
negotiations, however.
The strike comes as U.S. workers seek more pay in a strengthening
economy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has said its U.S. workers will get a
raise to at least $9 an hour, while West Coast port workers have
reached a tentative deal for a new contract after a months-long
dispute.
The refinery work stoppage began on Feb. 1 when talks for a new
three-year contract between the USW and lead oil company negotiator
Shell Oil Co broke down.
Talks were resumed but halted again after nearly reaching an
agreement on Friday, said sources familiar with the negotiations.
After the latest breakdown between the two sides, Steelworkers
leaders targeted Shell, which is the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell
Plc, calling workers out at a chemical plant and three refineries in
the company's Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] joint-venture with Saudi
Aramco [SDABO.UL].
The work stoppage now includes the nation's largest refinery,
Motiva's 600,250 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery.
USW members are also picketing at Motiva's 235,000 bpd Convent,
Louisiana, and 238,000 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refineries and the
Shell chemical plant in Norco.
In a letter to striking employees at the Shell and Motiva plants,
company officials said Shell has offered annual pay raises of 2
percent in each of the first two years of a proposed three-year pact
and a 2.5-percent increase in the third year.
The company has also offered to study issues of worker fatigue,
which has been cited as a factor in at least one fatal accident in
the past 10 years.
Shell also told striking employees the key sticking point was
non-union contractors who perform daily maintenance. The USW would
like to see them replaced with union workers.
"Hiring flexibility is a proven way to protect our core Shell
workforce and the long-term economic viability of our workforce,"
the letter said. "This strategy has served us all well, as we have
not had to conduct any layoffs in decades."
A union spokeswoman declined comment on Sunday about the letter.
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The Shell letter did not address the absence of "no-retrogression"
language, which keeps agreements from previous contracts, including
several on safety, in place. The lack of a no-retrogression clause
has become a sticking point in talks, union leaders have said.
Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said no-retrogression language has not
been a focus of the talks so far.
"The four key areas of focus in the negotiations are wages,
healthcare, use of contractors and fatigue," Fisher said. "The
union's 'no retrogression' proposal has not yet been a focus area of
our negotiations."
The USW's lead negotiator, International Vice President Gary
Beevers, has told Reuters that safe staffing levels were a point of
contention in the talks.
Workers are also striking at the Shell refinery and chemical plant
in Deer Park, Texas, and at plants owned by Lyondell Basell,
Marathon Petroleum, and Tesoro in California, Kentucky, Texas and
Washington.
Only one refinery has shut down due to the strike -
Tesoro's 166,000-bpd plant in Martinez, California, which was
previously scheduled to undergo maintenance.
The USW wants a new pact that would cover 30,000 workers at 63 U.S.
refineries with two-thirds of domestic capacity.
Refiners are using trained replacement workers, primarily managers
and engineers, to keep plants running at near normal rates.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Franklin Paul
and Tom Brown)
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