Marathon Petroleum reaches contract agreement with US Steelworkers personnel

Marathon Petroleum reached "a mutually satisfactory" agreement with United Steelworkers refinery personnel that if ratified by the union locals will succeed the contract expired midnight Feb. 1, the company said Feb. 25.

"We're pleased to have reached a mutually satisfactory four-year pattern labor agreement with the United Steelworkers," said Jamal Kheiry, a spokesperson for Marathon Petroleum, which served as the lead negotiator representing refiners in the negotiations.

The agreement includes substantial wage increases each year, a signing bonus, and continuation of or enhancements to other provisions of the previous pattern agreement, including those related to employee benefits, health and safety, and job security, said Kheiry.

The USW said the agreement will affect over 30,000 oil refinery, petrochemical plant, pipeline, and terminal employees in more than 200 USW represented bargaining units.

"Our Policy Committee was determined to bring back a fair agreement that reflects our essential role in the industry, especially considering its recent, historic boom in profits," said USW National Oil Bargaining Program Chairman Mike Smith in the union's Feb. 25 statement.

The proposed agreement provides economic and non-economic improvements for USW workers, Smith said.

Precise details of the contract were not being made public, as the USW said they will review the details of the proposed pattern agreement with members before discussing them publicly.

Marathon said that the terms outlined in the pattern agreement are in addition to economic, health and welfare, and safety commitments that are provided to its employees under local agreements at its eight facilities subject to the United Steelworkers pattern agreement.

"We look forward to local union leaders at those facilities scheduling timely ratification votes on the new local contracts to which the parties have tentatively agreed, which would replace the mutually agreed upon contract extension under which our employees are currently working," Kheiry said.

The USW had been in talks since Jan. 13 with Marathon. When the national agreement expired at midnight Feb. 1, workers began to work under an extension, which kept in place previous contract terms with a 24-hour notice required to terminate the extension.