USW Tesoro Council Intensifies Campaign to Obtain Fair Contracts at all Tesoro Sites

Contact: Lynne Hancock, USW, 615-828-6169, lhancock@usw.org

Pittsburgh—United Steelworkers (USW) local union leaders from Tesoro’s six USW-represented sites met March 24-25 in Salt Lake City to discuss bargaining, plan mobilization activities and rally in front of the company’s Salt Lake City refinery.

“It was a very productive meeting,” said Tesoro Council President Javier Montoya. “We discussed how bargaining has gone at each site, our strategies for reaching our bargaining goals and what activities we will engage in to get fair contracts at every location.”

The USW represents over 1,300 Tesoro workers in Salt Lake City; Mandan, North Dakota; Anacortes, Wash.; Martinez, Calif.; Wilmington (Los Angeles), Calif.; and Kapolei, Hawaii.

Local 12-591 members at the Hawaii refinery ratified the company’s offer March 20 because their facility is for sale. The agreement includes a me-too clause so that the Hawaii members receive the same benefit language obtained at the other sites.

“We still have a vital interest in the outcome of these negotiations at other sites, especially if Kapolei gets sold after contract talks are done,” said Local 12-591 unit chair Jason Sakamoto. “We need to stay strong and continue to fight for a fair agreement at all the sites.”

Tesoro is demanding that the USW local unions waive their legal right to bargain over benefit changes during the term of the proposed three-year agreement. Six months after members lost seven co-workers due to the April 2, 2010 Good Friday explosion and fire at the Anacortes refinery, the company announced it was cutting or eliminating benefits.

Despite the locals’ demands to bargain, Tesoro unilaterally implemented a series of benefit reductions on Jan. 1, 2011. The USW filed unfair labor practice charges. At Mandan, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge ruled Feb. 7, 2012 that the company should have bargained with the union and unlawfully implemented the benefit cuts. The judge ordered Tesoro to bargain with the union over the changes, restore the original benefits and reimburse workers for any increased costs resulting from the benefit cuts. Tesoro has appealed the decision. A similar situation occurred at the Los Angeles refinery and an administrative law judge heard that case the week of March 19. A similar dispute is pending arbitration at the Salt Lake City refinery.

In a March 20 letter to shareholders, USW International Vice President Gary Beevers wrote that the union is committed to bargaining in good faith and is hopeful that a fair and equitable settlement can be reached. However, he wrote the union sees the company’s pattern of serious unlawful activity as undermining the bargaining process at several locations.

“This may lead to a strike at one or more USW-represented Tesoro locations,” Beevers wrote.

Beevers urged the shareholders to contact Tesoro CEO Greg Goff and encourage him to work with the USW at each site to bargain fair contracts that meet the needs of the members and provide long-term stability for the company.

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 oil refining, pulp, paper and packaging, metals, rubber, chemicals, energy, government and the service sector.

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