HOUSTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The United Steelworkers union(USW) and Shell Oil Co reached a tentative agreement on Thursdaythat sources familiar with the deal said would boost pay by 11percent over three years for 30,000 U.S. refinery, chemicalplant and pipeline workers.
Workers represented by the USW will receive a 3.5 percentpay raise in each of the first two years of the deal and a 4percent raise in the final year, the sources said.
The agreement between the union and Shell came about ninehours before the current contract was to expire at 12:01 a.m. onFriday.
The union entered talks with lead oil company negotiatorShell on Jan. 16 seeking an 8 percent-a-year pay increase forhourly workers. USW-represented refinery workers make about $40an hour after four years on the job.
In 2015, following a sometimes bitter strike at 12refineries and three chemical plants affecting 7,000 workers,Shell, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and theUSW agreed to a 12 percent pay increase over four years.
USW International President Leo Gerard praised the unionmembers' commitment in a statement about the deal.
"We reached a tentative agreement because of our members'solidarity and the industry's willingness to negotiate acontract that is fair to both parties," Gerard said.
The deal will be combined with local agreements at eachplant to form the contract for individual sites. Ratificationvotes by union members will be conducted locally.
"We believe this agreement respects the needs of ouremployees, underpins our resolute commitment to safety andensures the economic health of Shell's facilities," companyspokesman Ray Fisher said in a statement.
The two sides also agreed to keep the company portion of thehealth insurance premium at 80 percent.
Small plants with less 150 union members will add one unionhealth and safety representative under the deal. Also, plantsthat have not adopted a fatigue reduction standard in earliercontracts, will commit to do so.
Fatigue was found by federal investigators to be a factor inthe 2005 explosion at BP Plc's Texas City, Texas, refinery thatkilled 15 workers and injured 180 other people.
The contract covers 30,000 workers at plants operated byShell, Marathon Petroleum Corp, BP Plc, ExxonMobil Corp, Valero Energy Corp, and smallerrefiners such as HollyFrontier Corp and Delek USHoldings Inc.(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by James Dalgleish and PeterCooney)