By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Union workers at Chevron Corp’s Los Angeles-area refinery in El Segundo, California, on Wednesday were voting on a new labor contract, said union officials.
The vote at the southern California refinery comes as United Steelworkers union (USW) members at the company’s San Francisco Bay-area refinery in Richmond remained on strike for a third day after twice rejecting a similar contract proposal.
Chevron spokesperson Tyler Kruzich said the company would hold off commenting until after results were available from the ratification vote by members of United USW Local 12-675 at the El Segundo refinery.
In Richmond, there has been no progress toward renewing talks between Chevron and USW Local 12-5, which represents the workers at the Richmond refinery, said B.K. White, first vice president of the local.
Kruzich said the company looks forward to returning to the bargaining table as it continues to operate the refinery and deliver products to customers.
Wholesale prices for California gasoline were unchanged on Wednesday, while retail prices for regular gasoline in the San Francisco Bay area remained between $5.59 and $6.19 per gallon where they have stayed since Sunday.
The 245,271 barrel-per-day (bpd) Richmond refinery has more than 500 union-represented employees while the 269,000-bpd El Segundo plant employs about 1,000 people total.
The two refineries supply about 20% of the gasoline in California and are major suppliers of fuel to Los Angeles and San Francisco-area airports.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by David Gregorio)
