Union members to vote on LyondellBasell offer

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Houston Chronicle

By L.M. Sixel

Workers at LyondellBasell's refinery in Houston will vote Wednesday on whether to accept what the company calls its "last, best and final offer."

Union leaders, though, are recommending that rank-and-file employees reject the offer, said Joshua Lege, strike coordinator at Steelworkers Local 13-227 which represents the LyondellBasell employees. The offer, he said, calls for eliminating a practice designed nearly six decades ago to discourage excessive overtime.

The contract would eliminate premium pay on normally scheduled workdays for employees who already had put in 40 hours of work during their scheduled days off, he said. Premium pay refers to compensating employees for working holidays, weekends or their days off by paying 1.5 times, double or even triple their normal hourly rate of pay.

Lege estimates the average employee would lose between $500 and $1,000 every month because of the change. It's even more for the employees who work in excess of 500 hours of overtime each year, he said.

FULL story at link.



Photo: Cody Duty, Staff L.C. Jackson pickets with other United Steelworkers union members in front of the LyondellBasell Tower, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle)

Read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Union-members-to-vote-Wednesday-on-contract-offer-6195323.php

[marym625]

1. Did I miss a change in federal law?

It used to be that anything over 40 hours in a seven day period was OT. This isn't the first time I have seen a union contract that would eliminate that. How can a contract be legal if it violates the law?

I understand that there is more to it than that. And I hate to see workers having to strike but I hope they vote their best interest

[okaawhatever]

2. Good question. I hope someone who understands the law will chime in..... nt

[marym625]

3. I do too

That's pretty obvious that I want someone who can explain this to chime in I am really just kicking so someone who can answer might see the post

[cstanleytech]

6. According to the article for some the company was paying

some of them double and triple which is probably what the company is trying to eliminate because I dont think they can eliminate the amount they are supposed to be paying based on the federal rules for overtime though I bet they would love it if they could.

[marym625]

7. I thought that might be the case

Maybe the mention of straight OT was just to ensure that people didn't think they only paid double and triple time.

TThank you!

[cstanleytech]

9. You should read the post by WorkerB its pretty interesting and it seems the company is really trying

to give the shaft to the workers.

[marym625]

11. Thanks!

Going to read it in a bit

[turbinetree]

4. Again

its the same old crap under the banner of TAFT-HARTLEY and the shenanigans this firm is trying to impose.
Just imagine the extra 500 per man this company can put into its pockets and then when the next negotiation comes along they take away the 8 hour work day and vacation days being earned:
All you have to do is type in this firms name: LyondellBasell's

"2014 Highlights
Leading in safety and environmental
performance
$45.6 billion in annual revenues
$8.92 diluted earnings per share,
excluding LCM* adjustment
$6 billion in cash generated from
operations
63.3 million shares repurchased
$1.4 billion in dividends paid"

I rest my case:
This information is off of there 10K filings for the SEC requirement for there annual 2014 statement on the prospectus, they basically want more blood out of the proverbial turnip.

I hope the steelworkers hold there ground

[WorkerB]

5. Some information

I have been visiting this website for years and I appreciate Democratic Underground. This is my first time commenting or posting anything. This union has been taking a beating from the Company for several contracts now and has decided that enough is enough. The pay in question first appears in contracts at this facility in 1948 and has been in effect since then. It is a counteractive measure against abusive work schedules, understaffing and fatigue. The union is attempting to address these issues in the whole contract as a safety issue for all the workers in the plant and the communities surrounding the plant. This plant is inside the Houston city limits on the Houston Ship Channel. The premium pay is designed to prevent deliberate understaffing to avoid paying benefits in addition to wages. Understaffing means that the workers are covering unstaffed positions as overtime, in addition to covering vacations and sick leave and other vacancies created by special assignments, etc. This is a twelve-hour rotating work schedule facility for the Operations workers. The premium pay kicks in when more than 48 hours are worked in one work week and is paid on the sixth and seventh day as double time. There is never triple time. I believe that is a misstatement in the article. But some workers work 13 twelve hour shifts in a row, routinely. This in a job that requires mental alertness and situational awareness at all times. These schedules have a detrimental affect on your health and your ability to do the job safely, not to mention the quality of your life. In addition, there are full crew clauses in the contract so that vacancies HAVE to be filled. Since the schedule rotates, some of the regular scheduled days occur on the sixth and seventh day. So that pay is earned by working all your days off BEFORE your regular schedule starts and working 7 days in a row or more up to 13 in a row. Overtime can be filled by volunteers but becomes mandatory when there are no takers. In other words, they own us. Now the Company wants to remove the penalty for usurping our days off. Hope that helps you to understand. We have scabs for the first time in our history that have crossed the line. Aided by those Right-to-Work organizations that work for the Billionaires.

[cstanleytech]

8. Hmmm it sounds a bit like what walmart, publix and alot of retailers are doing

in that they run their stores with a skeleton crew and expect their workers to do the work of 10 yet using only a crew of 7 though in their case its without overtime and if you should get overtime there will be hell to pay and you will likely be fired.
I wish you all the best though and good luck.

[Omaha Steve]

10. Thank you for coming out of being a lurker

Great time to do so with a great post.

OS