Hang in there, man. You're doing the right thing.

Still would like to know what you are striking over. Some say wages, some say safety, some say retrogression. Which is it?

It is safety and the biggest is the retrogression.... that has everything we fought for for the last 75yrs. has all our benefits, ins, no layoff, retirement etc....

Ya keep on striking man !! Just don't cry to me when they move your jobs over seas. Look at all the good the unions did for Detroit. Keep the fight just don't bitch when it all goes to shit! Anyone one who strikes for wages is a fool!

I don't have to worry about my job moving over seas.. we are the largest refinery in. North America.. we just want to work in a safe place and go home to our families at the end of the day.

The irony of this is how many men and women in that photo do you think are Republicans? In a nutshell, "...10 years ago, Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter With Kansas? suggested that working-class folk were voting against their pocketbook issues—duped, the liberal author declared, by Republican pitches on guns, God and gays." Read this article that details the path to this misplaced allegiance of the the white working man: http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/03/how- ... 73001.html

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Hey, Forever Drag-queen why don't you string a few words together to get what we literates call a sentence.

I hear over 20 crossed today in Louisiana, and if 100 cross, all of them will probably cross. From what I was told by the striker, here in Louisiana, there is not much reason to strike for them. They do not have the same problems as some of the other refineries. Not sure how true that is though.

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a lot of local issues have been solved, its the national issues that are far apart

The strike began because Shell got up and walked away from the negotiating table and gave a really bad offer. The strike continues mainly over the company (lead negotiator) failing to put the no retrogression language in the contract. Just so everyone knows, the refineries on strike have been put on strike by the USW at a national level. A refinery can't just say "we're going on strike". Not during the national negotiations, the USW makes those calls. Also, not all the refineries have major safety issues. But most do have some. There's more too it than I would rather type. Just don't believe everything on the news.

Original poster said "Safety" as his first reason. I'd like to know why? He's at Motiva so I'm really not interested in national reasons. Just local.

I was just listing the things in no particular order

Let me first start by saying that I have family that are in the union but have not yet gone out on strike. They are still on a rolling 24hr extension. I don't wish it upon anybody to lose their job.

I believe we're going to see more of this.

http://oilpro.com/post/11058/shell-run- ... on-workers

X2^^^

Well, I know it's a touchy subject since we do have so many plant workers in the area and on this site but just like has already been mentioned, I think MOST unions have outlived their usefulness. When they came about it was needed. People literally were dying on the job and companies never changed or checked up. Nowadays that's not the case. I just think the "heels dug in" approach that most of the companies and unions all use does nothing but cost people their jobs. In the vast majority of cases, you're not just talking about that individual, it's their families, children, etc... There has to be flexibility from both parties.

Best of luck to you Gator22, and to whomever has gone out. I hope everything turns out well for you and your families.

Been awhile since a made a living as a welder, but at one point I had been in and out of most all the plants on the lower ms river. When I worked in the plants, it seemed there was so much "saftey" in place it mad it hard to get anything done, at least compared to ship yards and large fab shops i had been in.

I's hate to see anyone, epsecialy a father have to face being out of work, but at some point, people just have to be accountable. If you think your line of work is unsafe, pays too low, unfair, go find another career, theres no one forcing anyone to do anything. Out of highschool I choose to make a living as a pipe welder. I'm a relativly young man with worn out eyes and knees, and disc trouble in my neck. I knew what I was getting into, and did it. No one took advantage of me or exploited me, and when I thought I was getting the short end of the stick, I'd pack my shit up and find a better offer. Eventually I had enough all together, and started over in a whole other career. Despite the administrations best efforts, we still have the freedom to do that in this country.

Good luck man. Been there done that. We were out 28-29 days, I lost 6+ grand in wages and we came back for less than what was offered in the first place. Total bullshit. We lost money, the company lost money and we pissed the company off in a big way. I'm a member but I have mixed emotions about it. In our facility its to your advantage to be a member just in case us need something. Times are changing and sometimes I think we are fighting a losing battle. When I hired on our insurance was free. We didn't pay one dime. Now I pay around 320 a month for my fam and the policy sucks. But you have old hands that remember all the perks they USED to have and still think they are owed the same shit. It ain't 1985. Things have changed. You think I'm gonna be willing to walk off a 80-90k/yrs job cause I have to give up a few perks and pay for insurance? Nossir. Fuck that. I'll keep working and make a little less.
I wish you guys the best and hope ysll get what you need to get back to work.

Right to work...

How much are u getting paid while caring the sign. How long will they pay u.

i work in a non unioned plant and its quiet interesting how slow things get done id be afraid to see the union plants. as mentioned above, especially for hands, there are so many safety rules in place that it makes it tough to get things done. these are good things so everyone does go home to families but what is sad about these strikes is when asked simpled questions about what people are striking for, a large majority give bullshit answers and no actually real life cases. they were told to strike by queen bee for whatever reason and just like little ants, queen bee said march so they marched.

if there is actual saftey concerns let hear them, and what has your safety dept done or said werent going to do to fix these safety issues? i know work will come to a hault here if something is truely putting ANY employee in a hazardous situation

Or, and it pains me to say it, call OSHA. Nothing makes safety problems disappear quite as quick as an impending OSHA inspection.

Imagine a group of workers going to a big company like a Shell or Exxon and saying they have concerns about safety and want to work on making things more safe. LOL, that seems out of the ordinary when it is the companies trying to get the workers more safe.

I work at Invista but yall have plenty of support from our plant. Keep fighting bud. Wish we were Union but we're not.

Anytime you have a supervisor tell you to slow down your work progress you have a problem. True story from my cousin who worked for the union at AA. He was called into the supervisors office and told to only do so much per day, on more than one occasion. Also have friends that work there and I hear the stories about their "hiding spots" they go to in order to avoid working. SMH...

^ this is Just as bad as democrats not working at all, still taking money not earned