I had an interesting phone call this morning.
It was from a Sunoco worker. As you can imagine, the mood inside the sprawling Marcus Hook refinery is bleak after the company announced on Thursday that they were pushing up the timetable for shutting down the refinery.
The company originally indicated they would shut down the plant next July if a buyer could not be found.
But CEO Lynn Elsenhans took one look at the latest numbers from the declining refining business and decided to speed up the timetable.
Workers were told the plant would be shut down starting on Friday.
Merry Christmas.
But one thing really sticking in the craw of workers is something that was revealed in our extensive coverage of the shutdown over the weekend.
All along most workers believed the company and other officials were pushing to seek a buyer who would operate the facility as a refinery.
Now that might not be the case.
It’s been believed that Shell was the leading possible suitor to buy the plant and continue to operate it as a refinery.
But workers were dismayed by comments by state Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, and state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, indicating that they have not met with anyone who wants to operate the plant as a refinery.
Workers have been working on a turnaround that would make the plant viable as a refinery.
“We feel like we’ve been misled from the beginning,” the worker said.
It’s hard to blame him.
We’re going to push this story all week, in particular about the potential for finding a buyer who will continue refinery work there.
That’s the key for the workers. That’s the only outcome that would not leave a lot of people out of work.
Other uses would not need nearly as many workers, and would not pay the wages the refinery jobs do.
We’ll be tackling this issue Wednesday night on our “Live From the Newsroom” show.
I’m hoping to have union officials and some elected officials join us. If you have a question you’d like us to ask them, e-mail me at editor@delcotimes.com.
In the meantime, the holiday season just got sucker-punched in the lower end of Delaware County.
It was from a Sunoco worker. As you can imagine, the mood inside the sprawling Marcus Hook refinery is bleak after the company announced on Thursday that they were pushing up the timetable for shutting down the refinery.
The company originally indicated they would shut down the plant next July if a buyer could not be found.
But CEO Lynn Elsenhans took one look at the latest numbers from the declining refining business and decided to speed up the timetable.
Workers were told the plant would be shut down starting on Friday.
Merry Christmas.
But one thing really sticking in the craw of workers is something that was revealed in our extensive coverage of the shutdown over the weekend.
All along most workers believed the company and other officials were pushing to seek a buyer who would operate the facility as a refinery.
Now that might not be the case.
It’s been believed that Shell was the leading possible suitor to buy the plant and continue to operate it as a refinery.
But workers were dismayed by comments by state Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, and state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, indicating that they have not met with anyone who wants to operate the plant as a refinery.
Workers have been working on a turnaround that would make the plant viable as a refinery.
“We feel like we’ve been misled from the beginning,” the worker said.
It’s hard to blame him.
We’re going to push this story all week, in particular about the potential for finding a buyer who will continue refinery work there.
That’s the key for the workers. That’s the only outcome that would not leave a lot of people out of work.
Other uses would not need nearly as many workers, and would not pay the wages the refinery jobs do.
We’ll be tackling this issue Wednesday night on our “Live From the Newsroom” show.
I’m hoping to have union officials and some elected officials join us. If you have a question you’d like us to ask them, e-mail me at editor@delcotimes.com.
In the meantime, the holiday season just got sucker-punched in the lower end of Delaware County.
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