Tentative contract averts refinery strike around the country

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Updated: March 2, 2012 8:14AM

The threat of a strike may have been averted late Tuesday at refineries around the country, including the Citgo refinery in Lemont.

A three-year contract that covered 30,000 refinery-based steelworkers was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, the United Steelworkers Union reached a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract.

Contract talks took place on a national and local level Tuesday, union spokeswoman Lynne Hancock said.

The agreement still must be ratified by the union’s membership.

National negotiators were working on wages, benefits and working conditions, and local negotiators were working on issues related to individual refineries, Hancock said.

Steelworkers work in operations and maintenance at refineries.

“They essentially run the place,” Hancock said.

The ExxonMobile refinery south of Joliet is not affected because workers there are not in the union.

A spokesman for the Citgo refinery could not be reached for comment.

The steelworkers union represents 30,000 workers at 168 facilities nationwide, including 69 refineries.