Exxon Texas refinery workers to vote on removing union
An Exxon gasoline station is seen in Houston, Texas, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
HOUSTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Locked-out staff at Exxon Mobil Corp’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery will vote between Nov. 12 and Dec. 22 in a mail-in poll on whether or not to take away the United Steelworkers union (USW) from representing them, in line with the corporate and union.
The U.S. Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will ship out the ballots on Nov. 12 to staff represented by USWLocal 13-243 on the refinery and adjoining lubricants mixing and packaging plant, in line with Exxon and the union. The ballots have to be returned by Dec. 22.
At the least 30% of the employees locked out of their jobs on the 369,000 barrel-per-day refinery and lubricants plant signed a petition calling for a decertification vote that was submitted to the NLRB in early October.
About 650 staff had been locked on Might 1 after a deadline handed with no new labor contract, however resignations and retirements from the union have lowered that quantity to about 585, in line with union officers. Of these staff, about 500 are dues-paying members of the USW.
The rest are nonetheless represented by the union beneath the Texas right-to-work regulation.
All who’re represented by the USW will likely be eligible to forged ballots within the decertification vote.
The decertification vote follows the rejection of an Exxon contract proposal on Oct. 19, through which 400 union members forged ballots.
Exxon has mentioned both adoption of the contract or decertification of the union will finish the lockout, which started after the union refused to conform to a contract that will eradicate job seniority.
The rejected proposal would have given Exxon management over staffing of a brand new crude distillation unit that will add 250,000 barrels per day capability in 2024, making Beaumont the most important U.S. oil-processing plant by quantity.
The NLRB has but to rule on USW complaints alleging Exxon supported the decertification marketing campaign, in violation of federal regulation. The NLRB may impound the votes and never reveal the end result till it guidelines on the union complaints.
If the NLRB doesn’t impound the ballots, they may very well be counted by the top of the yr.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Modifying by Christopher Cushing and Leslie Adler
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