RNs to join steel workers union at news conference

California Nurses Association and National Nurses United representatives said they will announce at noon Thursday in Martinez that they are joining refinery workers who have walked out on strike at Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery.

Spokespersons Charles Idelson and Jon Jeter said the two nursing unions may be joined by environmental organizations when they express their support Thursday of United Steel Workers (USW), who have been picketing Tesoro in Martinez since Feb. 1 as part of a national strike involving 3,800 employees at various refineries.
Valero Benicia Refinery is not among the operations targeted by the strike.

Besides Tesoro, other affected refineries are owned by Marathon and Shell, the company leading negotiations with the steel workers’ union. The Shell refinery in Martinez also isn’t affected. Nine plants currently are being picketed.

Lynne Hancock, USW representative, said the union asked members to strike after national bargaining talks broke down.

Tesoro managers said the Golden Eagle Refinery, a 166,000 barrel-per-day plant, had been partially closed for scheduled turnaround maintenance and they decided to complete a shutdown of the plant during the strike, the first the plant has experienced in 35 years.

That refinery has about 400 employees, including machinists, mechanics, maintenance workers, pipefitters and refinery operators, who are represented by USW, Idelson and Jeter said.

The nurses’ groups said the strike is about unsafe conditions that affect steel workers and local communities, and that refinery employees are seeking stronger health and safety standards.

Some nurses will join steel workers on the picket line at the Tesoro refinery in Carson, Idelson and Jeter said.

National Nurses United released a statement earlier this week that said members are “especially alarmed at the serious threat for workers and residents of local communities near the refineries posed by unsafe staffing levels, excessive worker overtime demands, and the reports of daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that put tens of thousands of people in danger.”

Hancock concurred, saying, “It’s not about wages. We wanted to come out of this round of bargaining with meaningful and enforceable health and safety protections that would help prevent future explosions, fires and leaks. We did not want to go on strike.”

The national nurses union said it supports USW objections to subcontracting union jobs and other contract standards that are part of the dispute, and asked government officials to urge oil companies to settle with the union employees.

Idelson and Jeter echoed refinery workers’ complaints about fires, explosions and leaks being “near-daily occurrences at many of the refineries,” and added that “one of the USW’s more urgent demands is to afford workers the authority to stop work under unsafe conditions.”

They said several reports of injuries have been made at the Martinez refinery, including two in February 2014.

Both incidents involved an alkylation unit used in gasoline production. The unit first spilled sulfuric acid, injuring two employees Feb. 12, 2014; three weeks later it spilled more of the acid and hurt another two workers, Idelson and Jeter said.

Katy Roemer, an Oakland registered nurse and member of the CNA board, said, “Nurses are on the front lines in the fight against asthma and these other chronic diseases that can be triggered by these toxic emissions at refineries.”

She suggested unions have taken the stand against Tesoro and other companies out of concern for employees.

“Protecting public safety as well as that of the workers is why it is so vital for workers to have a strong voice on the job through collective bargaining,” Roemer said. “Democracy shouldn’t end at the front door to your workplace.”

The news conference, a short distance from the Tesoro plant, will start at noon Thursday at the intersection of Solano Way and Arnold Industrial Way, Martinez.