A week into a lockout, United Steelworkers International President Roxanne Brown came to Whtiing Friday to show support for the local union USW 7-1 as the union and BP still haven’t reached a contract agreement.
“We have consistently been asking BP to get back to the bargaining table with us. We’ve consistently received no response. We continue to press because we want to bargain a fair contract for our members. We’ve been pretty persistent with making that request,” Brown said.
In an update Thursday, BP said company officials are not refusing to meet or negotiate with the union. The union and company officials last met March 17, when the company made an offer to the union “and reiterated that the offer was available and that accepting it would avoid a lockout,” according to the company.
Starting at midnight March 19, union employees picketed near the Whiting refinery after BP initiated a lockout as the company and union still haven’t come to a contract agreement.
“Because the most recent meeting concluded with the company re-issuing an offer, BP is still waiting to hear back from the union on whether the union accepts the offer. BP remains ready to meet and resume negotiations if the union contacts us and expresses an interest in doing so,” according to a company statement.
The union has been reaching out to company representatives through official channels, Brown said, but hasn’t heard back.
“This lockout can end as soon as they get back to the table. We want a deal. We want to arrive at an agreement, but they just have to get back to the table,” Brown said.
Since the lockout began a week ago, Brown said “the morale to fight back is strong” among the members.
“We all agree that this is an illegal and unlawful lockout. Our members want to get back to work. They want a fair agreement. That has not changed throughout this entire process of bargaining. All this has done is emboldened them to fight back and to fight for what they know that they deserve,” Brown said.
In an update ahead of the lockout, BP said it provided notice to cancel the 24-hour rolling contract extension, provided lockout notice and sought commitment from the union to help facilitate a safe handover of operations.
“We value our employees and respect their right to assemble safely and lawfully,” a previous BP statement said. “However, we disagree with any statements or signs indicating the lockout is illegal. We do not expect impacts to our operations or production.”
In a statement Thursday, the company said “the decision to lockout was not made lightly,” and took months of negotiating and consideration.
“The union has not meaningfully negotiated about the company’s contract proposals that are most critical to the long-term sustainability of the Refinery. In fact, the union has unequivocally rejected our company proposals twice now without offering a counter that addresses any of the company’s concerns,” according to a company statement.
USW 7-1 President Eric Schultz said Friday when the company put out its best, last and final offer, it was made clear that while the offer wouldn’t be its last and final it would be the best offer. The union voted down that offer, he said.
The union offered counter proposals, then withdrew some of them “to show an olive branch,” Schultz said. The company came back with another proposal that was worse than the first offer, he said.
When the union returned to the table with a counter proposal to the company’s second offer, the company rejected it and returned a few hours with the notice of ending the 24-hour rolling extensions and for the lockout.
In the last week, the union has asked the company to return to the bargaining table and to put members back to work under the previous contract’s terms as bargaining continues.
“We’ve worked for months to try to bargain a contract that worked well for both our membership and for the company,” Schultz said. “From the very beginning, it’s been very clear that what’s on the table is going to stay on the table.”
BP offered a proposal that would cut 100 union jobs by shifting the work of non-core craft lines to contracts. Any terminated employee “would receive generous lump sum payments as a result,” according to a company statement.
“While the company’s original proposal included a potential elimination of 200 union jobs, with 100 of those being transferred to salaried BP employees, we have since withdrawn the proposal to transfer 100 of those roles to salaried positions as negotiated with the union,” according to a company statement.
Cutting one job is too much, Brown said.
“We don’t bargain with the intention of eliminating our members’ jobs. That’s a nonstarter. To even think that we would accept that is just lunacy on their part,” Brown said.
Brown said the union wants “a good contract” and to get back to work. When asked what the union would view as a good contract, Brown said it’s not what BP has proposed.
“They have over 120 pages of really bad language that’s just not good for our membership. Wanting to cut jobs, cut wages, weaken our protections under our collective bargaining agreement, those aren’t things that we would agree to at all,” Brown said.
The union remains committed to standing strong in asking the company to get back to the negotiation table, Brown said.
“This can be done if they return to the back and bargain in good faith, and we come out with a contract that our members deserve. Our members do really hard, dangerous work every single day,” Brown said. “Not having our skilled, knowledgeable workforce in that refinery doing that work that they know in their sleep puts the community at risk.”
