Brothers and sisters,
I’d like to start off by taking some time to remember our International President Tom Conway, who passed away Sept. 25. While he will be greatly missed, his leadership at the bargaining table and his commitment to preserving jobs in our sector will have a lasting impact on our oil program and our union as a whole. He long fought for improved health and safety standards at our facilities, including during the 2015 oil strike, for which he chaired negotiations.
Tom was a great leader and mentor over the years, and an even better person and friend. If you feel so moved, donations can be made in Tom’s honor to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an organization Tom himself supported.
Lobbying Efforts
A group of 15 USW oil workers from across the country traveled to Washington, D.C., last month to support a bill Senator Bob Casey introduced regarding RINs. The proposed legislation would stabilize RIN pricing by creating a credit that would be capped at .20, as well as making RINs only available to obligated parties to be used in the year purchased. This would level the playing field for those refiners that do not have the ability to blend.
During the two days that our members visited the capitol, the oil workers, staff, and I contacted more than 80 offices. I want to send special thanks to our D.C. office staff for the months of hard work that went into a successful week of advocating for our oil workers.
In September, oil workers from across California also traveled to Sacramento to meet with state legislators. The goals included re-introducing the USW as the union of oil workers in the state of California and discussing the challenges we are facing. It’s imperative that our stories are shared with those legislators because of the instability of the industry in the state.
It was a successful day and will provide a good foundation on which to build as we move forward. Again, I would like to thank District 12 Rapid Response coordinator Catherine Houston and Jim Savage from our D.C. office for the work they did to make this successful.
Securing the Future
We received the award from the arbitrator on the Ineos successorship arbitration. The arbitrator ruled in our favor and agreed with the union that the benefits, particularly retirement benefits, were not reasonably comparable in the aggregate. We reached out to Ineos and look forward to getting back to the table to secure appropriate benefits.
Finally, I wanted to flag this important USW Hazard Alert regarding two workers who suffered life-altering burns in an explosion after a dead-legged pipe ruptured. The destruction caused the plant to close and approximately 100 people to lose their jobs.
Although this incident occurred at a phenol plant some time ago, it’s vital that we’re all aware of the hazards that freezing temperatures can have on pipe integrity at all industrial sites. Please add this action item to your maintenance and inspection programs, with follow-up by the union’s health, safety and environment committee representatives.
As ever, thank you for your continued activism and support. Together, we’re making our industry safer and more secure.
In Solidarity,
Mike Smith
Chair, National Oil Bargaining Program
mjsmith@usw.org