UPDATE: Marathon on strike for nearly 2 months

[Omaha Steve]

Teamsters at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Detroit have been on strike for nearly 2 months. Here’s a headline from this week out of Detroit:

Earlier this month we sent more than 4,000 messages to the Marathon Petroleum CEO demanding they come to the table and negotiate.

Since then, the Detroit City Council has passed a resolution standing with striking workers and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking workers on the picket line:

Workers’ contracts expired in January. The oil giant stonewalled them for months, so now nearly 300 workers have no choice but to strike. But, instead of negotiating a fair deal, Marathon has hired scab labor at double the usual rates. Obviously, Marathon can afford to pay its workers more.

In fact, Marathon Petroleum made $9.7 billion in profits last year.

Since May 2021, the company has bought back $35 billion of its own stock to further enrich its already wealthy shareholders. But the same generosity hasn’t been extended to workers who are asking for a livable wage.

Every refinery has its own complex machinery and procedures. The Marathon Teamsters know these procedures backwards and forwards -- and the scab replacements don’t. Using untrained workers risks malfunctions and catastrophic accidents, which would be disastrous for the communities where refineries are located.

Tell Marathon Petroleum’s CEO: Give a fair deal to striking workers now: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/marathon-petroleum-worker-strike/