re: USW strike...** POSSIBLE END IN SIGHT **

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Everything is pure specualtion and is supported by "someone I know that knows"

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Motiva CEO Dan Romasko

The document said the sticking point "is not safety, fatigue, health care or even wages, as the union claims." Instead, the memo said that USW's central issue "is their insistence that we replace routine maintenance contractors with USW-represented employees."

Romasko's memo called that "unreasonable," adding that the oil companies need to keep "flexibility in hiring" those contractors "to accommodate economic cycles and maintenance/turnaround schedules."

The memo added that Shell, as the leading company in the negotiations, has made seven different offers to union leaders, and that the USW has rejected all of them.

"We're seeing little evidence that the USW's International leaders are interested in a meaningful settlement anytime in the foreseeable future," the memo said.