Shell unveils plan to replace union workers 2 days before talks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Chicago Business-Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Two days before contract negotiations are scheduled to resume between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the United Steelworkers’ oil union, the company announced plans to run its second-largest U.S. refinery without union labor.

Shell will have trained and deployed enough “relief workers” by mid-summer to keep the 327,000-barrel-a-day Deer Park refinery in Texas running at full operations, The Hague, Netherlands-based company said late Monday on its website. USW members went on strike at the complex on Feb. 1 after their contract expired and talks broke down.

The announcement comes amid a national strike that’s now widened to 12 refineries accounting for almost 20 percent of the capacity in the U.S., including BP Plc's facility in Whiting, Indiana. Shell is leading the negotiations with the 30,000-strong United Steelworkers on behalf of companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.

Shell said on its website late Monday that the company had been preparing staff to replace union workers since the walkout began. After putting in place non-union Shell employees to run operations at the plant, “we turned our focus to bringing in and training additional staff,” the company said.

FULL story at link.



Bloomberg Distillation towers loom over BP's refinery in Whiting, Indiana, where workers are currently on strike.

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150302/NEWS05/150309963/shell-unveils-plan-to-replace-union-workers-2-days-before-talks

[Demeter]

1. I thought there were rules in this country to prevent such

massive firings of union members during contract negotiations....did I dream it? Or have the labor laws been entirely gutted in this country?

[valerief]

7. America has labor laws? Hell, even conservatives want children to work. nt

[Brickbat]

14. The company isn't firing the striking union workers.

It's bringing in scabs to do the striking workers' jobs while they're on strike.

[daleanime]

16. Which would definitely help the company.....

reach a 'reasonable' deal.

[NBachers]

2. I hope they can prevent the scabs from entering the facility.

[turbinetree]

3. SCABS

The company has a entire arsenal to wipe out a democratic voted in representation, but under the Taft-Hartley Act, the worker is democratically voted in representation is screwed.

"The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 29 U.S.C. § 401-531 better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, (80 H.R. 3020, Pub.L. 80–101, 61 Stat. 136, enacted June 23, 1947) is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr., and became law by overcoming U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto on June 23, 1947; labor leaders called it the "slave-labor bill"[1] while President Truman argued that it was a "dangerous intrusion on free speech",[2] and that it would "conflict with important principles of our democratic society".[3] Nevertheless, Truman would subsequently use it twelve times during his presidency.[4] The Taft–Hartley Act amended the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA; informally the Wagner Act), which Congress passed in 1935. The principal author of the Taft–Hartley Act was J. Mack Swigert[5] of the Cincinnati law firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister."

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Boycott Shell

I now will.

[elias49]

5. You KNOW the bastards could pay union wages.

I won't even bother to try to find their 2014 profits.

[daleanime]

6. But Americans don't want to soak the rich.....

[elias49]

8. Really. Soak the poor and middle class instead -

there are so many MORE of them.

[valerief]

9. Because they're the job creators, er, job demoters, I mean. nt

[Pakid]

10. How many American worker fought and died for the right to have good jobs?

Those same rights that so many of todays worker are so willing to give away without a fight. What in the Hell is wrong with so many of todays American workers ? To much Fox and to many who buy into all the right-wing lies. Given the chance the rich will have us working for the same wages that they pay in China.

[ibewlu606]

11. Kicked!

The displaced union workers are given first opportunity to be hired, but it is without union representation or union wages and benefits. Keep an eye on these refineries in the future for a rise in worker related accidents and deaths. Worker safety is the first thing to go when the union is de-certified. Corporations just don't get that cheap labor isn't skilled, and skilled labor isn't cheap.

[Dustlawyer]

12. The biggest issue by far causing the strike isn't over wages, it's over health and safety.

These plants have been deferring maintenance to boost quartos profits EVERY QUARTER! This March 23rd will be the 10 year anniversary of the BP Texas City, Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 and injured 6,000! BP didn't want to fix all of the most dangerous, known conditions at the plant so they budgeted for how much it would cost them per death. Prior to the explosion they had come up with four budget proposals. The first two budgets were so cheap they had estimates of how many workers would DIE! Out of the four plans they chose the second cheapest where they thought they would only kill one or two workers, but their profits were the highest under this budget! Unfortunately, they under estimated the deaths and killed the 15.
Watch for ten year anniversary stories coming soon that my firm is putting out. I spoke to Eva Rowe, the young lady who lost both her mother and father in the blast last night. She will be very involved in this anniversary. BP has already sent private investigators to follow her around again trying to find dirt for another smear campaign. They followed her for three years during the lawsuit, as well as secretly filming us, the attorneys and our families.
BP and the other oil companies are amoral and only care about profits, people are expendable to profits.

[William Seger]

13. Verizon has standing plans

... and is gearing up its "Emergency Work Assignment" program again this year to send computer programmers, accountants, etc. to work 12-hour days, 6-day weeks installing FIOS cable to replace striking union workers, as they did in the last strike.

[Red1]

15. I can remember

For some reason back in the 70s? Maybe late 60s..people were boycotting shell for some reason or another.

That is a pretty strong advantage..with their total capacity being so high. I am at a loss as to how cheap

gas will play a part in this whole dispute. Perhaps, God forbid..a few refinery's blow up due to the incompetence

of the 'replacement' workers. Might change some minds.

[Michigan-Arizona]

17. Boycott of Shell back when

Hubby was in the Operating Engineers back then & said Shell was building plants in Michigan using scab labor, the motto back then was Hell with Shell.....