Union, energy companies make strike preparations

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Houston Chronicle

By L.M. Sixel

Members of the United Steelworkers union are preparing picket signs, while companies are training supervisors in case they're needed as replacements to keep plants operating as labor negotiations come down to the wire.

Against the backdrop of low oil prices, union leaders are calling this year's round of national oil bargaining the most difficult it has faced in years.

At 12:01 a.m. Sunday, labor agreements covering 30,000 workers at refineries, pipelines, oil terminals and petrochemical plants nationwide - including about 5,000 in Houston - are set to expire.

A team of union negotiators is meeting with representatives of Shell Oil Co., which is negotiating on behalf of the energy industry. The labor contracts cover 64 percent of the nation's refining capacity, according to the United Steelworkers.

FULL story at link.



Photo: Thomas B. Shea The United Steelworkers Union is negotiating for a nationwide contract. At the same time, local unions are dealing with local issues such as pay and benefits. Over 100 United Steelworkers Union pre strike in front of the Lyondell on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 in Houston, TX. at midnight on Saturday the contract ends. (Photo: Thomas B. Shea/For the Chronicle)


Read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Strike-preparations-in-advance-of-contract-6052590.php

[mountain grammy]

1. Solidarity!

[joshdawg]

3. x 1,000

UNIONS!

[father founding]

4. right back at you

Yeah, they are great, aren't they

[midnight]

2. Today’s fights come from three sources.

"There are fights that grow, more or less spontaneously, from workers taking risks. There are the fights picked by our enemies: fights like Wisconsin and so-called "right to work" anti-union measures, fights where our enemies try to bust a union through lockouts, bankruptcy, legislation or other tactics to become “union-free.” And then there are the fights we pick: campaigns where we go on offense, where we take risks in order to grow our power.

For all of these, we need organizations that will tap everyone, in our unions and outside them, to take action, to support workers, even workers very different from themselves. We need rapid response capacity; those who are disposed to take action must be organized to be ready. As we take action, we need to build in a learning system, so that each action builds commitment and so that the next will be more powerful.

Organizing the unorganized does all of that.

Organizing is hard; employers have made damned sure of that. It requires taking risks, and committing resources, resources that could easily be used only on behalf of today’s members, not tomorrow’s. So it requires that today’s members make that commitment. We have to place a bet on the future. The case for organizing has to be sufficiently compelling to merit such a bet."









http://www.alternet.org/labor/truth-about-union-organizing-its-much-better-you-think