HOUSTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The United Steelworkers unionsaid on Saturday the strike by U.S. refinery workers isexpanding to two more plants early on Sunday due to unfair laborpractices by oil companies.
Walk-outs at BP Plc's Whiting, Indiana, refinery and the company's joint-venture refinery with HuskyEnergy in Toledo, Ohio, shortly after 12 a.m. localtime on Sunday would bring the number of plants with strikinghourly workers to 11, including nine refineries accounting for13 percent of U.S. refining capacity.
BP said on Friday it had received notice of the walk-outs atthe two refineries, but the Steelworkers had said little aboutthem until Saturday.
The union said in a statement that U.S. refinery owners ledby Royal Dutch Shell Plc have failed to discuss healthand safety issues and engaged in "bad-faith bargaining,including the refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects; unduedelays in providing information; impeded bargaining; and threatsissued to workers if they joined the strike."
A Shell spokesman said the company was unaware of any unfairlabor practice charge filed against it with the U.S Departmentof Labor.
"We regret that we have been unable to reach a mutuallysatisfactory agreement with the USW prior to contractexpiration," said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher. "We remaincommitted to resolving the remaining issues through collectivebargaining at the bargaining table."
Saturday was the seventh day of the strike, which the USWcalled on Jan. 31 after it said Shell had walked away from thenegotiating table.
About 4,000 workers at refineries in California, Kentucky,Texas and Washington initially left their jobs when the strikebegan shortly after midnight on Feb. 1.
Another 1,440 workers will join the picket lines whenemployees of the BP-operated refineries in Indiana and Ohioleave their jobs early on Sunday.
Oil companies are continuing to operate all but one of theplants with temporary replacement workers. BP said replacementworkers would take over operations at the Whiting and Toledorefineries.
Tesoro Corp elected to shut down production at itsMartinez, California, refinery by the end of this week becausehalf the plant's production was already shut due to a plannedoverhaul.
The USW began negotiations on Jan. 21 with Shell initiallyseeking wage increases, a tighter policy to prevent workerfatigue and reductions in non-union contractors working inrefineries.
Since the start of the strike, the union has stressed the safety and health aspects of its proposals to prevent accidentsin refineries.
"Management cannot continue to resist allowing workers astronger voice on issues that could very well make thedifference between life and death for too many of them," saidUSW International President Leo Gerard, according to thestatement issued on Saturday.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Dan Grebler)