Union members are still off the job at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Southwest Detroit. More than 250 members of Teamsters Local 283 have been on the picket line for seven weeks as they seek a fair contract.

With the strike ongoing, the Marathon refinery is using out-of-state workers to operate. Despite that, Michigan regulators just approved the facility to increase production. 

Gina Jones is a lab technician at the refinery. She says temp workers might not fully understand how to operate the plant.

“Yeah, you can bring scabs in,” says Jones, “but each refinery has its own little quirks. Unless you’ve been around for a while – and you know how to work with those quirks – somebody who comes in fresh, they’re not going to know.”

As a result, nearby residents and striking workers, like Jones, have safety concerns.

“(Refinery) startup is one of the most dangerous times,” Jones said. “Whenever you shut down or start up a refinery, that’s when accidents can happen.”

Workers are looking for stronger union protections, such as requiring new hires to join the Teamsters. They’re also asking for pay increases that outpace inflation.

However, union members say there have been no negotiations in weeks. That’s despite the presence of a federal mediator.

“They came to us saying, ‘we’ll give you a 2% increase,’” says Jones of prior negotiations. “And that’s laughable.”

Marathon Petroleum is set put out it’s third-quarter earnings in early November.

In the second quarter of this year, the oil giant made $1.52 billion.

**Editors Note**

After this story published, a Marathon Petroleum spokesperson wanted to reiterate:

• All employees in operations roles at the refinery have demonstrated competency specific to their assigned job tasks, including passing all required tests.
• The Marathon employees currently running the refinery and supporting the turnaround have a combined average of more than 15 years of experience each, which is more than the average experience of the employees currently on strike.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has approved new air permits for Marathon Petroleum’s Detroit refinery after a public comment period earlier this year.

The permit changes will allow Marathon to operate the refinery — located at 1001 South Oakwood — at “full capacity,” and set new pollutant emission caps for the facility. Previously, the refinery was limited to producing an average of 140,000 barrels a day.

Andy Drury, an environmental engineer with EGLE, says the department will require Marathon to continue air quality monitoring through at least 2030.

“One of the bigger things is Marathon has been doing ambient air monitoring at their facility, and they have agreed based on the comments to continue for at least six more years,” Drury said.

Key updates to the permit include the removal of outdated regulatory references, an extension of the air monitoring program, and increasing the height of a refinery stack to 35 feet.

More: Union workers strike at Detroit Marathon refinery

Jeff Tricoff, a relief operator at Marathon’s Detroit refinery and a member of  Teamsters Local 283, was among several residents who expressed concerns about increased capacity at the facility at a public hearing hosted by EGLE in May.

“As workers, we know that operating everything at 100% has to be done effectively and efficiently and done by experienced people,” Tricoff said at the meeting. “Right now we are in a labor dispute with our current contract having expired on Feb. 1, and Marathon is preparing to bring in temporary workers to take our position.”

Just last week, refinery workers represented by the union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The new permits were approved on Sept. 10.

Marathon also operates an asphalt terminal at 301 S. Fort St., and a light products terminal at 12700 Toronto St., both in Southwest Detroit.

WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

Local 283 President Steve Hicks says they are asking for union security, seniority rights and an increase in pay.

“Since the pandemic, inflation is sky high from 2019 in double digits, and has cut into the spendable income of our members here,” Hicks told WDET. “So we need to get [a] percentage that’s a lot higher than what they are offering, which is 3% per year.”

Hicks says the union sent several emails asking to bargain over the last offer made by Marathon, but were denied.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Marathon officials said they were “disappointed” that union members decided to go on strike, saying the company has met with union leadership regularly for the last nine months to reach a new labor agreement.

“The company has negotiated in good faith, but the union thus far has been unwilling to agree to acceptable terms for an agreement and, instead, has decided to engage in a strike in support of its bargaining positions,” the statement read. “We are fully prepared and have implemented plans to continue safely operating the facility with trained and qualified Marathon employees, and a safe and orderly handover to these experienced team members has been completed.”