With strike looming, BP Whiting refinery workers rally to defend jobs, wages and safety

About 200 BP workers, families and supporters gathered in Amoco Park in northwest Indiana on Saturday and marched to the entrance of the BP Whiting refinery to picket against management’s demands for sweeping concessions even deeper than the industry-wide pattern agreement announced two weeks ago.

For three weeks now, BP and United Steelworkers local 7-1 have been negotiating based on a day-to-day extension. The company is demanding the facility be taken out of the pattern bargaining with a six-year contract which includes pay reductions of up to 20 percent, 100 jobs cut and workers waiving legal rights limiting the use of artificial intelligence at the refinery. The company is also pushing for invasive workplace monitoring and restructuring job advancement.