HOUSTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the United Steelworkers union (USW) negotiated for hours onTuesday over a new labor contract for U.S. refinery workers, thecompany said on day 10 of the biggest refinery walkout since1980.
They have been unable to agree since this year's talksstarted on Jan. 21 on the size of wage increases and how tomonitor worker fatigue, which is tied to accidents and can behandled through overtime pay or adding workers.
Shell is the lead representative for oil companies at thenegotiations for a three-year pact that would cover 30,000workers at 63 plants.
The union wants wage increases, a tighter safety policy, andreductions in non-union contractors working in refineries.
Over the weekend, walkouts widened to include BP Plc's Whiting, Indiana, refinery and its joint-venture refinerywith Husky Energy in Toledo, Ohio.
In total, strikes have been called at 11 plants, includingnine refineries that account for 13 percent of U.S. refiningcapacity. About 5,400 workers are now on the picket lines.
Companies have called on trained managers to keep theirplants running at nearly normal levels, except for Tesoro Corp, which opted to shut its Martinez, California, refineryas part of an already ongoing overhaul. (Reporting By Erwin Seba and Terry Wade; Editing by CynthiaOsterman)