June 7, 2012:

Workers at Tesoro Corp's 166,000 barrel per day (bpd) San Francisco Bay-area refinery in Martinez, California, approved a new three-year contract on Wednesday night, said the secretary-treasurer of United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 5. "USW Local 5 members voted to accept the company's proposal," said Local 5 Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Clark. "The negotiating committee would like to thank the members for their support." The more than 450 workers represented by the USW at the Martinez refinery have been working under an extension of the previous contract since it expired on Feb. 1 and had voted in March to authorize union leaders to call a strike if an acceptable agreement could not be reached.

A spokeswoman for San Antonio-based Tesoro said the company was pleased that workers at the last of six refineries with union representation had approved the its contract proposal. "We are pleased with this outcome," said Tesoro spokeswoman Tina Barbee. "All six of our USW-represented refineries - Anacortes, Washington; Kapolei, Hawaii; Los Angeles, California; Mandan, North Dakota; Salt Lake City, Utah and Martinez, California have ratified our fair and competitive settlement offer." Before the offers were accepted, workers at four refineries including Martinez voted to authorize strikes and staged protests at refineries, Tesoro's headquarters and annual meetings of shareholders.

Union leaders had said workers were opposed to changes the company wanted in benefits and sought greater protection for worker safety. The worst U.S. refinery accident in a half a decade took place in 2010 at Tesoro's 120,000 bpd Anacortes, Washington, refinery where an explosion claimed the lives of seven workers. Tesoro has agreed to a USW proposal to create a process safety management representative position, Barbee has said. The contract provides an 8.5-percent raise over three years on base pay of $33.85 per hour.

Independent refiner Tesoro has a seventh refinery in Kenai, Alaska, where the workers do not have union representation.

By Reuters