Workers cross the line

Local union leader calls it betrayal to ‘union brothers’

Although both sides are uncertain about exactly how many have done so, both the United Steelworkers union and Shell-Motiva have confirmed union strikers in Louisiana have crossed the picket line.

Shell-Motiva spokeswoman Kimberly Windon said she didn’t have a definitive number, but could verify some of more than 800 union workers who went on strike on Feb. 21 had returned to work at both the Norco and Convent sites.

By Tuesday, Brent Petit, local United Steelworkers 750 president, said the number of workers who had crossed was low and would likely have no impact on facility production, following a trend reported at other Motiva-Shell sites.

“It’s a disappointment. It happens,” Petit said of the strike. “It will eventually end, but the people that crossed will have to work with the 95 percent of people who stayed on strike. These are your brothers who feel like you betrayed them. It makes a difference going long-term and that’s what I don’t think people realize.”

As of Tuesday, Petit estimated 25 workers had left the picket line of Norco’s more than 500 union workers and around 30 of Convent’s 200 workers. But he attributed the Convent workers potentially leaving the line because they weren’t “seasoned” union members.

There could be a variety of reasons as to why these workers left the line, Petit said. But he called it “the nature of how things are today” and couldn’t comment on what got them “to this point or plight that got them in the position they’re in.”

About three weeks into the strike, Petit said negotiations between the Steelworkers union and Shell-Motiva appeared to be moving in the right direction.

“I think things are moving,” he said. “It takes time.”Local union workers at Shell -Motiva refineries in Norco went on strike after negotiations with the petrochemical giant broke down late last month, joining the first nationwide oil refinery strike in more than 30 years.Of Norco Manufacturing Complex’s 1,175 employees, 548 of them are union workers. Statewide, about 800 union workers joined more than 5,200 others nationally in a strike that United Steelworker representatives maintained was about inadequate staffing, worker fatigue and safety issues, which the petrochemical industry has denied.

At that time, Petit emphasized the strike was about workplace safety and worker fatigue. He maintained it was not uncommon for an employee to work 500 to 1,000 hours overtime in a year, with these operators averaging more than 60 hours a week.

Norco Manufacturing Complex spokeswoman Rochelle Touchard said Shell -Motiva have had manufacturing overtime guidelines in effect since 2008.

In January, United Steelworkers, representing 30,000 workers nationwide, began negotiating with Shell Oil Co., which served as the lead company in national bargaining talks. When talks failed, the strike began Feb. 1, spreading over 12 oil refineries and affecting about 20 percent of U.S. petroleum production.

Touchard said the strike would not affect production at the Norco Manufacturing Complex.