By Tim Sullivan

Union members on Friday ratified a four-year contract covering ChevronTexaco’s Richmond, Calif., complex, including its 14,000 barrel-per-day base oil refinery.
 
The former contract expired Jan. 31 but members of Local 865 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union had continued working under rolling 24-hour agreements.
 
The fundamentals of the new contract were established Jan. 31 when the union accepted a Shell contract that served as an industry pattern under the National Oil Bargaining Agreement. Site-specific details had to be worked out afterwards between union locals and individual employers.
 
A ChevronTexaco spokesman said there was never an imminent threat of strike at the Richmond facilities.
 
“The chain of events in this situation was pretty standard,” Dean Ohair said. “Our belief all along was that we had the right people at the table to get things done and that turned out to be the case.”
 
In addition to base oil, the Richmond complex produces gasoline and diesel and jet fuels.