Exxon Mobil and the workers’ union at the company’s Baytown, Texas, refinery reached a tentative agreement over contract language on safety — a dispute that the union said could lead to a strike if not resolved.
A spokesperson for the United Steelworkers local at Baytown said Exxon agreed to implement a fatigue management system regulating the number of days in a row an employee could work, and to accept a process safety representative position in the new three-year contract. “We had been at a standstill on those two items before the bargaining session”, said USW spokesperson Lynne Hancock in an email. The union cited recent safety issues—including a rupture in an Exxon pipeline in Arkansas and a fire at Exxon’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery last month—in pushing for additional safety standards. It said that similar provisions were already in place at other Exxon refineries in Torrance, Calif.; Billings, Mont.; Chalmette, La.; and Beaumont. Exxon spokesperson Patty Errico confirmed that the two sides had reached a tentative agreement, but declined to provide additional details. “We look forward to moving ahead together and maintaining the good working relationships our employees share with us and one another”, Errico said. The 584,000 barrel-a-day refinery is the second-largest refinery in the U.S.
The facility’s 850 union employees will vote on the deal May 14 and 15. If majority of the members accepts the agreement, it will avert a strike the union had said could go into effect June 15.