US refinery workers strike: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. Union workers at more than 10 US refineries went on strike early this morning amid ongoing negotiations between the United Steelworkers Union and lead refining negotiator Shell.

It's unlikely the strikes will have immediate or significant impact on production as companies are turning to managers and contract workers to keep most facilities operating.

Union leadership said workers went on strike at the 268,000 b/d Lyondell refinery in Houston, Texas; Marathon Petroleum's 475,000 b/d refinery in Texas City, Texas, and 240,000 b/d refinery in Catlettsburg, Kentucky; at Shell's 340,000 b/d joint venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas; and at Tesoro's 120,000 b/d Anacortes, Washington, refinery, its 260,000 b/d Carson, California, refinery and 168,000 b/d Martinez, California, refinery.

Tesoro reported workers had also given notification at its 68,000 b/d refinery in Mandan, North Dakota, and ExxonMobil received a notice of intent from workers at the 348,000 b/d refinery in Beaumont, Texas. Union workers at the Shell Deer Park chemical facility and a Marathon cogeneration facility are also on strike.

All other union workers continue to work under rolling 24-hour contract extensions.

"We remain committed to resolving our differences with USW at the negotiating table and hope to resume negotiations as early as possible to get our employees back to work," Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.

National negotiations concentrate on wages, benefits and working conditions. Union negotiators said they objected to a shift toward contractors from union workers affecting operational safety, overtime and careers. A text message to union workers late yesterday called the fifth and most recent Shell proposal "insulting."

Refiners train management and bring in contractors to continue operating in the absence of union employees during a strike.

"We have activated our strike contingency plan to continue operations in the normal course of business," Fisher said.

Tesoro criticized the lack of what the company called a traditional 24-hour notice of a strike from its workers. The Carson refinery continued to operate, and Anacortes, Mandan and Martinez refineries would transition to Tesoro operators "within the next 24-48 hours," the company said.

"Our comprehensive contingency planning has prepared us to safely operate our facilities," the company said.

Valero and Phillips 66 refineries continued to operate normally and USW workers had not given any notifications. Phillips 66 had signed 24-hour rolling extensions with workers and expected to begin local-level negotiations with unions once the national bargaining process completed.

ExxonMobil said the Beaumont refinery was the only site for which the company had received a strike notification by this afternoon.

"ExxonMobil remains actively engaged in good faith negotiations with the union," spokesman Todd Spitler said.