Contact: Lynne Hancock, USW, 615-828-6169, lhancock@usw.org
Lima, Ohio—United Steelworkers (USW) Local 624 members ratified a three-year agreement last night with Husky Lima Refining in Lima, Ohio.
The ratification followed a 135-day unfair labor practice strike and an unconditional return to work Oct. 8, 2012. As part of the contract settlement, the USW has requested that National Labor Relations Board Region 8 approve the withdrawal of the union’s unfair labor practice charges arising from the negotiations and unfair labor practice strike.
Local 624 President Mike Edelbrock said the contract passed by a slim margin.
“I’ve negotiated with four to five companies and I’ve never had a company like this one make an effort not to negotiate,” he said.
The three-year agreement contains the items bargained in the National Oil Bargaining pattern agreement, except for the off-date contract expiration date of April 15, 2015. The first-year 2.5 percent wage increase was retroactive to Oct. 8, 2012. A 3 percent wage increase will be given in April of 2013 and 2014.
Edelbrock said the company backed off giving an employee a disciplinary occurrence if they were off work on family and medical leave. He said Husky also agreed to relax the rules on trading shifts and work time. In exchange, the union allowed the company flexibility in maintenance work and how jobs would be filled on the process units, and it gave small concessions on the new hire and training rates.
Local 624 represents over 235 workers at Husky Lima Refining. The USW represents over 30,000 oil workers who work in oil production and at refineries, terminals, pipelines, and petrochemical plants.
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, renewable and atomic energy, plus the service and government sectors.
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