Striking Texas refinery workers say reach tentative pact with Marathon

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Negotiators for Marathon Petroleum Corp and union workers at the company’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery reached a tentative agreement on Monday for a four-year contract, pointing to the end of a walkout that has lasted four months, said local union officials. Before strikers can leave their picket lines outside the 451,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas City, Texas, United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 13-1 and Marathon will have to complete a return-to-work agreement and union members will have to vote on the contract. The walkout at the Galveston Bay refinery is the last of 15 work stoppages that began in February after talks for a new national agreement between the USW and U.S. refinery and chemical plant owners broke down. "Obviously, the union is optimistic about being able to negotiate a favorable return-to-work agreement to get our members back to work," said USW Local 13-1 Vice President Larry Burchfield on Monday night. "We're glad we were able to reach a safe and fair contract after this long strike." The more than 1,000 Galveston Bay Refinery workers represented by Local 13-1 went on strike on Feb. 1, one of the first locals called off their jobs by the USW's international leadership. The local is the last to complete a contract, nearly three months after a national agreement on wages, benefits and safety policies was reached by the USW International and refinery owners. The long and bitter dispute at the Galveston Bay Refinery was over changes Marathon sought to long-standing policies at the refinery, which the company bought from BP Plc two years ago. The union said those changes would remove job and safety protections for workers. Local 13-1 members twice rejected contract offers made by the company. Marathon representatives did not reply to requests for comment on Monday night. Local union and company negotiators are scheduled to begin talks on Tuesday morning over the return-to-work agreement, which will lay out the schedule and terms for strikers to resume their jobs. Marathon has employed temporary replacement workers to keep the refinery in operation. How long it will take to reach the return-to-work agreement, which must be ratified along with the contract, is unknown. In 14 other strikes at U.S. refinery and chemical plants this year, it has taken about three weeks for striking workers to return to their jobs after the ratification vote. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)