HOUSTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. refinery strikesince 1980 continued through its 25th day on Wednesday with nomovement toward renewed talks to end a walkout by 6,550 unionworkers at 15 plants, including 12 refineries accounting forone-fifth of domestic capacity.
A spokesman for lead refinery owner representative Shell OilCo, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said noface-to-face meetings have been scheduled with the UnitedSteelworkers union (USW) as of Wednesday.
"No date has been set (for talks to resume,)" said Shellspokesman Ray Fisher. "Not sure if there has been any contact(between the two sides)."
A USW spokeswoman declined to discuss the status ofnegotiations on Wednesday.
Talks for a new three-year contract covering 30,000 USWmembers at refineries and chemical plants broke off on Friday,after which the USW ordered strikes at three Motiva Enterprisesrefineries, which are co-owned by Shell.
The union has said its negotiators are available to meetwith Shell.
Sources familiar with the talks have told Reuters thatface-to-face negotiations may not resume this week.
Talks on local issues are set to begin again on Fridaybetween LyondellBasell and the USW local unionrepresenting workers at the company's Houston refinery, saidsources close to the negotiations.
A Lyondell spokesman declined to discuss the status ofnegotiations with the local union.
The second-largest crude distillation unit at BP Plc's 413,500 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Whiting,Indiana, where about 1,100 USW members are on strike, wasundergoing repairs on Wednesday after a malfunction thismorning.
Companies have called on temporary replacement workers tokeep plants running at nearly normal levels.
USW's International President Leo Gerard announced anagreement on Wednesday with Sean Garvey, president of NorthAmerica's Building Trades Unions (NABTU), which representsworkers who build and overhaul refinery units.
The union is seeking to win back daily refinery maintenancejobs now performed by non-union contractors, but not jobsperformed by NABTU, Gerard and Garvey said.
The two union leaders also said NABTU members will respectthe USW picket lines and not perform work that had been done bystriking workers.
However, new construction by NABTU members will be permittedand USW will assist building trades unions in facilitating thework.
USW members work at more than 200 U.S. oil terminals,pipelines, refineries and chemical plants.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Chris Reese)
