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HOUSTON, May 9 (Reuters) - BP Plc and the unionrepresenting striking workers at the British firm's Whiting,Indiana, oil refinery have reached an agreement setting theterms for them to return to work as soon as May 18 following athree-month strike.
Union officials said a ratification vote is scheduled forMonday on the tentative four-year contract, agreed on May 1 bynegotiators for BP and the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-1.Striking workers have been walking the picket lines since Feb.8.
Workers at the Whiting refinery went on strike as part ofthe largest work stoppage by refinery and chemical plant workersin 35 years, involving 15 plants which included 12 refineriesaccounting for one-fifth of U.S. capacity.
The national strike began after talks broke down betweennegotiators for the USW International union and U.S. refineryowners over tighter standards to prevent worker fatigue and theuse of contractors in day-to-day plant maintenance.
An agreement was reached on March 12 on national issuesincluding pay, benefits and the fatigue and contractor issues,but strikes continued over local issues at the Whiting refineryand others.
The major sticking point at Whiting was over the union'sright to bargain under the contract over policies such as thosethat affect worker safety at the refinery.
"We look forward to having all our Whiting employees back towork soon and building on the success we had achieved prior tothe strike," Refinery Manager Jorge Lanza said in BP'sstatement.
Striking workers are ready to return to work, said BobLofton, USW international representative working with Local 7-1.
"It's been a long three months," Lofton said. "We'll getback into the refinery, and hopefully, within two to three weeksthings will get back to normal."
Workers who carried out a three-month strike at LyondellBasell Industries' Houston refinery are also scheduledto begin returning to work on May 18, a union official said onSaturday.
Workers are still on strike at a refinery in Toledo, Ohio,which is owned by BP and Husky Energy.
Negotiations also are continuing between striking workersand Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay Refinery inTexas City, Texas.
BP has kept the refinery in operation with temporaryreplacement workers while the 1,100 union members have been onstrike. An undisclosed number of workers did cross the picketline during the strike, BP and the union have said.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Jane Baird)
