Oil Workers Set Ambitious Agenda

Members Agree on Bargaining Goals for 2026 Contract Talks

The USW’s master contract with the oil and petrochemical industry doesn’t expire until January 2026, but members are already working together to prepare for the upcoming negotiations.

About 275 members at the National Oil Bargaining Program (NOBP) Conference last fall in Pittsburgh selected the union’s policy committee and set an ambitious agenda for the committee’s upcoming talks on a new agreement.

“As we prepare for the next round of bargaining, it’s essential that we have open lines of communication, not just in the final months but starting right now,” said NOBP Chair Mike Smith. “That’s why it’s so important that we build power at conferences like this, and why we work so hard to strengthen safety and health regulations in the states where our members work.”

Smith, along with International President David McCall, International Vice President Roxanne Brown, District 13 Director Larry Burchfield, and the NOBP policy committee, will conduct negotiations with the oil industry, represented by Marathon Petroleum.

The new contract will replace the existing four-year pattern agreement that the two sides reached in 2022, which improved wages, benefits and working conditions for more than 30,000 oil refinery, petrochemical plant, pipeline and terminal employees in more than 200 USW-represented bargaining units.

The pattern agreement sets across-the-board standards on issues like wage increases, health care costs, training, health and safety, job security and other subjects, while individual locals hold site-specific talks on issues like scheduling, safety, work rules and job classifications.

Brandi Sanders-Lausch, president of Local 13-1 at the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery, who is in her second term as a delegate on the NOBP policy committee, said that bringing members from across the industry together regularly is essential to winning an agreement at the bargaining table that improves wages, benefits and working conditions for members.

“The conference keeps local leaders and company councils engaged in the process,” Sanders-Lausch said, noting that conference participants touched on topics such as the state of the industry, economic projections, changes in the legal landscape, organizing and other issues.

Those conversations put members in a strong position as they prepare for the next round of bargaining, she said.

“The future for USW oil workers is tied to the evolving energy landscape,” Sanders-Lausch said.

USW members must focus on securing that future while also ensuring fair wages, strong benefits and safe working conditions for current workers, said Justin Donley, president of Local 912 at PBF Energy’s Toledo Refining Co. in Ohio.

While the industry is changing with emerging technologies and a shift to renewable energy sources, Americans will always have a need for petroleum-based products, he said.

“We will forever be fighting to protect our position in the industry,” said Donley, who is in his first term as a policy committee member. “That is what the union is for, though, and collective bargaining is our best opportunity to do that.”

In addition to fighting at the bargaining table, members must mobilize in the halls of government so that as the industry shifts toward more renewable energy sources, workers are not left behind, said International Vice President Roxanne Brown, who oversees the union’s public policy work.

“We understand what you’re feeling, and we understand the fight and the work that we have ahead of us,” Brown told the NOBP delegation. “Our job is to fight like hell for your jobs and fight like hell for your future, because that’s what we do as a union.”

No matter what the future brings, Sanders-Lausch said, energy jobs must offer good wages and benefits that can support families and communities, just as they have for generations.

“Investments in carbon-reducing technologies and manufacturing upgrades are also seen as opportunities for unionized jobs,” she said.

Members should approach bargaining with confidence, particularly given the strong position of petroleum industry employers, International Vice President Emil Ramirez reminded the delegates.

“We’ve had challenges, but we’ve also won victories,” Ramirez said. “And we’ll have to remember that as we head into bargaining.”

Unwavering solidarity will be the key to a strong future for oil workers, Donley said, both in the short term as members prepare for the next round of bargaining, and in the long term as they look to build up the next generation of leaders in the ever-changing energy sector.

“We are always trying to get new members involved in the union and, prior to each round of bargaining, we need to train those newly involved members,” he said. “Our solidarity is our strength.”