US labor board judge rules Exxon's Texas refinery union lockout was legal

Source: Yahoo! News/Reuters

Wed, November 27, 2024 at 4:25 PM EST


HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled Exxon Mobil's 10-month-long lockout of some 600 union workers at a Texas oil refinery during a contract dispute was legal.

The judge sided with Exxon in his decision on Nov. 21, finding the 2021 and 2022 lockout was to pressure the United Steelworkers union workers toward a deal, not to oust the union from the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery complex.

The USW had faced a decertification campaign and filed an unfair labor practice complaint during the lockout, alleging an improper effort to break the plant's union. The union had sought millions of dollars in lost pay and benefits for the workers who were locked out of the plant between May 2021 and March 2022.

"There is little or no evidence that the company locked out the unit employees to unlawfully pressure them to decertify the union,” NLRB law judge Jeffrey Wedekind said in an opinion accompanying the decision. A spokesperson for Exxon did not reply to a request for comment. Meekie Moseley, president of USW Local 13-243, which represents the workers, said the union is considering its options following the judge's decision. The USW can appeal the decision to the NLRB.

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-labor-board-judge-rules-212509841.html