THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
OCAW president Grospiron Economics and self-respect
STRIKE:
Refineries Running Most chemical plants and refineries struck by members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union continue to operate. With nearly a week's experience behind them, by press time last week, supervisory and technical personnel had few apparent operating problems with the units they are manning. Some operations, such as canning lines, are down because these require more labor than can be spared at the moment. OCAW's 60,000 striking m e m b e r s who normally work under about 435 different contracts—and oil and chemical company managements appear to have settled down early last week for a long strike. The strike affects one third of OCAW membership and could shut down about half of U.S. refinery capacity, plus possibly a third or more of petrochemical capacity. The impact on chemicals—a potential "domino" effect—heavily depends on how the strike affects refineries from which chemical units are fed raw materials. OCAW is asking an economic package of 72 cents per hour—12 cents retroactive to Oct. 1, 1968, 32 cents Jan. 1, 1969, and 28 cents Dec. 1, 1969—during a 23-month contract, increased shift differentials, and other benefits. The average wage of OCAW members on strike is about $3.80 per hour. This wage is the result of a total of a 44 cent-per-hour increase granted in the last contract signed two years ago. Emotions of people involved in the strike seem unaroused even though 14 C&EN JAN. 13, 1969
the economic package totals some 19% spread over just under two years. Apparently managements didn't take the demands too seriously when they were first disclosed by OCAW last July. Five days before the original strike deadline of Dec. 3 1 , 1968, some companies had not come forth with a counterproposal nor offered a cent in improvement, said A. F. Grospiron, president of OCAW. This strike not only is a matter of economics but also a matter of self-respect on the part of our members, he said. How much of whatever direct wage and fringe benefits that are granted to OCAW members in a new contract will filter down to nonunion personnel can't be known until some kind of settlement is reached. What help the strike might give to organizational efforts of unions aimed at professional and technical employees (C&EN, Dec. 9, 1968, page 24) also can't be determined for some time. Questions such as these are, however, other facets of the problem of the main strike with which managements must deal. The refining and petrochemical industries have not had a large-scale strike by OCAW since 1952. From time to time there have been long strikes against single companies or refineries. The near unanimity of operation of refineries and chemical plants indicates management learned well its lessons of the past.
MINERALS:
Moderate Growth in 1968 Many common minerals and nonferrous metals were produced and consumed in not much greater quantities in this country last year than in 1967. This is revealed in a host of preliminary 1968 figures recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The figures do confirm, however, that labor problems and other stresses and strains within domestic economy last year caused some striking exceptions to this general upsurge. For example: • While production of most chemical process industry raw materials progressed substantially, shipments of sulfur dropped drastically. • While the output of most nonferrous metals was well ahead of 1967 levels, primary aluminum production dropped for the first time since 1961. • While total domestic fertilizer usage increased, potash production slumped. In spite of dire industry warnings of a continuing and intensifying shortage of sulfur throughout 1968, the year actually saw the end to the worst of the sulfur scarcity. Lower-thanexpocted demand from phosphate fertilizer makers triggered a 157c drop in Frasch sulfur shipments—from 7.68 million long tons in 1967 to 6.52 million long tons last year, the lowest level since 1964. The industry is now also in a better
Tenneco's Prospector on a Mineral Hunt Prospector is a 300-ton research vessel presented last week in Washington, D.C., by Deepsea Ventures, Inc., a contract research and development firm formed by Tenneco, Inc., of Houston, Tex., in October 1968. During the past six years the ship has been engaged in underwater exploration for Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., recently acquired by Tenneco. This week, Prospector resumes exploration and evaluation of mineral deposits, such as manganese nodules, on the Atlantic continental shelf. The exploration program acknowledges a recent federally sponsored research report advising against federal spending in this area (C&EN, Dec. 23, 1968, page 9).
