USW Clerical Workers Confront ExxonMobil CEO Tillerson at Shareholders Meeting

Questions linger about gender inequality and unfair treatment of female clerical staff in Baytown, TX facility

Contact:
Hoot Landry, District 13 staff rep., o) 409-838-1972, c) 409-284-9807
Lynne Baker, USW Communications, o) 615-831-6782, c) 615-828-6169

Dallas, Texas – While many high profile company executives, investment bankers and oil speculators may have been celebrating ExxonMobil’s $30.5 billion profits in 2010, there was a decidedly different attitude among the Baytown clerical women and their fellow Steelworker supporters at the ExxonMobil shareholders meeting today. 

Clad in vibrant pink, the Steelworkers pointedly asked ExxonMobil’s $29 million CEO Rex Tillerson and the board of directors why there were exceptional rewards for him and the company’s upper management, while at the bargaining table, the Baytown clerical group is being denied raises and other benefits despite their productivity.

“We wanted to know why ExxonMobil thinks we should be satisfied with nothing,” said clerical worker Sheyrl Webster. “ExxonMobil is trying to divide us from our Steelworker brothers and sisters and we won’t take it lying down.”

United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 13-2001 represents the 41 workers in the bargaining unit, all of whom are women. The union and the company began negotiations March 1 for a new three-year agreement. The contract expired March 15 but will continue in effect unless either party gives notice of a lockout or a strike. As of now, no notice has been given.

In addition to the Baytown, Texas, clerical unit, local members of the USW ExxonMobil Council were present at the meeting from facilities in Beaumont, Texas, Baton Rouge, La., Chalmette, La., Cicero, Ill., Torrance, Calif., and Billings, Mont.  The clerical unit also received support from the District 13 Women of Steel chapter.  

As support staff in the Baytown refinery, chemical plant, lab and main office building, the women do clerical and analytical work and handle functions like payroll, auditing and accounts receivable/payable.

The Baytown site’s refinery, chemical plant and lab bargaining units received 3 percent yearly wage increases when their contract was negotiated in 2010. They also obtained a $2,500 signing bonus, which equated to $1,000 for ratification and $500 per year to help defray the cost of out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The USW is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. It represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy and the service sector.

###