CWA Solidarity Statement with Locked-Out Teamsters at Marathon Petroleum in St. Paul Park, Minnesota
The following statement is in solidarity with locked out Teamsters at Marathon Petroleum in St. Paul Park, MN. CWA Staff Reps Jeff Lacher and Richard Shorter attended a picket to show CWA support.
Washington, DC – The 700,000 members of The Communications Workers of America stand in solidarity with 200 Marathon Petroleum workers and their union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Marathon Petroleum is demanding reduced staffing levels and the ability to replace union jobs with lowest-bidder subcontractors under pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management to improve earnings in the refining segment. CWA knows Elliott well from its attacks on our telecom employers, including AT&T and Frontier Communications, seeking short-term cash extraction at the cost of workers and long-term investment.
Marathon’s cost cuts in its refinery business also include increasing workloads on high-intensity positions to the point where union representatives raised safety concerns for both workers and the local community.
We stand in solidarity with Teamsters workers demanding safe jobs. Marathon should end this lockout now and reject Elliott Management’s demands for harmful cost cuts.
