26 July, 2010
Thanks to dogged persistence by ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the fate of the 133,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery Shell refinery in Montréal is still open and subject to sale. Last week, following a second court injunction prohibiting dismantling of the refinery until 10 September, Shell announced it again would negotiate with the Delek Group of Israel over purchase of the refinery.
At stake are the jobs of 500 workers represented by the CEP. In January 2010, Shell announced plans to radically restructure its global downstream operations, including closure of the Montréal East refinery by 1 June.
The Anglo-Dutch multinational said it would continue operating part of the site as a terminal and distribution centre for scores of Shell retail outlets scattered across Québec and Canada’s Maritime Provinces. Such continuance, however, would require only 30 workers.
The CEP and its Montréal branch union, Local 121, has battled relentlessly to find a buyer, as well as to press provincial and federal authorities to keep the refinery operating. Shell rejected bids by potential operators last spring and union members believe Shell wants the refinery shut, with imported petroleum products distributed through the terminal.
On 8 July, a Québec Superior Court granted the union a ten-day injunction preventing any cannibalizing of the refinery. “We believe that maintaining the equipment in good condition until we get satisfactory answers to our questions about offers to but the facility” is in everybody’s best interests, said Local 121 President Jean-Claude Rocheleau.
On 16 July, that injunction was extended into September. Meanwhile, last week on 20 July, Shell stated at a federal parliamentary hearing of the House of Commons that it re-open talks with Delek, a holding company in which its wholly-owned subsidiary, US Holdings Inc., operates a crude pipeline, refinery, and hundreds of gasoline retail outlets in the southern US.
Delek had been an earlier bidder for the refinery, but Shell rejected the bid as too low. The ICEM remains hopeful that CEP will succeed in achieving sale of the refinery, preserving jobs for the union’s energy workers. Shell operates two smaller Canadian refineries, in Sarnia, Ontario, and in Edmonton, Alberta.