SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 / 7:54 PM /
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Thursday it looks forward to handling industry negotiations on a national contract covering 30,000 U.S. refinery and chemical plant workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW).
The talks begin formally in January and Shell, which has represented its peers since 1997, is lead negotiator on behalf of companies including BP, Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and others.
The refining industry this year has enjoyed strong profits, near-full utilization rates and record product exports. In the June quarter, the margin on turning crude to gasoline, diesel and other products was the highest since 2015.
“Our goal in the bargaining process will be to reach an agreement with the USW which ensures that our employees continue to receive competitive pay and benefits while keeping the industry competitive in the global marketplace,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said in a statement on Thursday.
He declined to comment on the oil industry’s positions in the talks.
Shell’s statement was similar to that made by the head of the USW’s oil bargaining program on Wednesday. The union is aiming for a three-year contract with wage increases of about 6 percent per year.
“Our goal is a mutually beneficial agreement for our members and the companies they work for,” Kim Nibarger, chairman of the union’s national oil bargaining program, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Union members with four years’ experience currently earn about $40 an hour, Nibarger said.
The current contract expires on Feb. 1. The one to be negotiated between Shell and United Steelworkers will set the pattern for contracts between local unions and refineries, chemical plants and pipeline operators.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Bill Trott
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
