BEAUMONT, Texas (Reuters) – Union workers locked out of their jobs at a Texas oil refinery for nearly 10 months voted on Monday to accept an Exxon Mobil Corp contract offer, a union official said.
Exxon has said it would end the lockout only with union members ratifying its offer or their agreement to remove the United Steelworkers (USW) local 13-243 as bargaining agent for the Beaumont, Texas, refinery.
The about 650 hourly workers at the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and Mobil 1 motor oil plant were locked out May 1 to preclude a wildcat strike, Exxon has said. The facility has continued to run since then with managers and temporary workers.
Details of the tally were not immediately available.
The approved contract allows Exxon to make all assignments, an issue that led to a rejection vote in October. A quarter of assignments previously were determined by worker seniority. The contract also adds Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday.
Still to be decided is whether the USW will continue to represent the plant’s hourly workers. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) oversaw a vote in November and December on removing the USW, a move sought by 30% of union members.
If it was accepted, the union will cease to represent the plant’s workers for the first time since World War II. Results of that vote have been withheld while the NLRB reviews USW unfair labor practice charges alleging Exxon began the lockout to force the union’s removal.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams)
