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HOUSTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The largest U.S refinery workersstrike since 1980 entered its 18th day on Wednesday as union andoil company representatives prepared to renew face-to-facenegotiations over pay and safety, after a week's hiatus.
More than 5,000 workers at 11 plants, including ninerefineries accounting for 13 percent of U.S. productioncapacity, remained on strike with little sign of a quick end.
Face-to-face talks between representatives of the UnitedSteelworkers union (USW) and lead oil company negotiator RoyalDutch Shell Plc have been on hold as the companycompiled a reply to an information request from the union andweighed a counterproposal from the union.
The union's lead negotiator International Vice PresidentGary Beevers told Reuters in an interview on Monday that safestaffing levels at refineries and chemical plants remain a keysticking point. The union also wants wage increases.
No new strike notices have been issued by the USW since Feb.6 when workers at plants in Whiting, Indiana, and Toledo, Ohio,were told to walk off their jobs starting the next day.
Tesoro Corp's 166,000-bpd plant in Martinez,California, was the only refinery to cease operations due to thestrike. Part of it was already shut for maintenance and afterthe walkout started the rest was idled. Tesoro officials havesaid production at the refinery will not resume for the durationof the strike.
Shell has rescheduled from March until September a plannedoverhaul of a hydrocracking unit at its 327,000 barrels per day(bpd) joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, sources toldReuters on Monday. The refinery's gasoline-producing fluidiccatalytic cracking unit remains shut, though the rest of theplant is operating as usual.
The USW is seeking a three-year, industrywide pact thatwould cover 30,000 workers at 63 U.S. refineries that togetheraccount for two-thirds of domestic capacity.
Companies have called on trained temporary replacementworkers to keep their plants running at nearly normal levels. (Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Terry Wade andAlden Bentley)
