Amid fraught negotiations, Shell refinery workers picket in Texas - Polidicks

[quote]HOUSTON — The pickets outside a giant Shell refinery east of Houston run around the clock without a break, in eight-hour shifts so the line is always manned. The protesters, who belong to the United Steelworkers union, are participating in the first major U.S. oil strike since 1980, one that has centered on the huge oil industry in Texas. Some 3,800 workers nationwide walked off the job at midnight on Sunday, after Royal Dutch Shell and the United Steelworkers (USW) union failed to agree on terms for a new national contract. Then at nine refineries and plants across the U.S., workers went on strike at the end of the shifts. Five of those refineries and plants are in Texas — three in the Houston area and two in Texas City, about 40 miles to the southeast. At Marathon’s Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, 1,100 workers are on strike, the most of any of the refineries or plants. Combined, the nine facilities handle 10 percent of the oil refined in the U.S. Texas is at the heart of the American oil industry and thus now at the heart of the dispute roiling the sector. Workers in Texas and elsewhere are preparing for a potentially long action. Protesters outside the Shell refinery had no idea how long the work stoppage would last, but they know the 1980 strike dragged on for three months. It could spread much wider, threatening an even bigger industrial action at a time when oil prices are in free fall and some analysts have talked of the bursting of an energy bubble in America that has been propelled by the rapid recent development of the fracking industry. If USW called on all its members to abandon their posts, as it did in 1980, 65 refineries — which account for 64 percent of U.S. oil production — would temporarily lose workers. One operator at Shell, David Devoss, has been working there for 31 years and talked to some colleagues who were around during the 1980 strike. “A lot of people talked about going out and getting other jobs,” he said. “Roofing was a popular choice, and other people had relatives who could get them jobs in construction.”[/quote] [url]http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/5/shell-refinery-strike-houston.html[/url]

This is happening all over the US. Many oil-workers are striking for safer conditions, and it's growing rapidly.

[QUOTE=LoganIsAwesome;47103362]This is happening all over the US. Many oil-workers are striking for safer conditions, and it's growing rapidly.[/QUOTE] Seems like a bad time to go on strike, A LOT of people are getting laid off In the oil industry right now

I hope they work out things regarding improved safety measures if that is an issue. The one thing that might increasingly start to come from mass walkoffs like this though is that if it takes 300 people to run a refinery/plant, companies are going to be looking for a way to automate and do it with 50-100.

something something something free-market economy, something something something texas. let the market deside what's best for the workers, i mean until they start dropping dead on the job they clearly aren't working hard or long enough i'm going to a jobs fare in a week or so, and shell will be there looking for internships, im wondering if a dozen or so positions just opened up [editline]9th February 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=nintenman1;47103558]I hope they work out things regarding improved safety measures if that is an issue. The one thing that might increasingly start to come from mass walkoffs like this though is that if it takes 300 people to run a refinery/plant, companies are going to be looking for a way to automate and do it with 50-100.[/QUOTE] refineries are already automated, the problem is that refineries are giant intricate systems with miles of pipes, massive volumes of reaction vessels and columns all run off of hundreds of sensors and logic gates, and it all needs constant maintenance to even assure product quality [editline]9th February 2015[/editline] [quote] “A lot of people talked about going out and getting other jobs,” he said. “Roofing was a popular choice, and other people had relatives who could get them jobs in construction.”[/quote] if conditions are that bad that roofing [I]in texas[/I] is considered a better job then shit has really come to boil

[quote]Union spokeswoman Lynne Hancock said workers are seeking better health care benefits, safety improvements, and limits on the use of contractors to replace union members in maintenance jobs. She said wages are not an issue.[/quote][url]http://thecourier.com/local-news/2015/02/08/steelworkers-refinery-strike-hits-marathon-bp-plants-2/[/url] [QUOTE=Sableye;47104020]if conditions are that bad that roofing [I]in texas[/I] is considered a better job then shit has really come to boil[/QUOTE] On one job you risk of burning to death, the other has unsafe conditions around gas lines.