Angry refinery workers took their case to the state capital yesterday, holding a noon press conference in their bid to get support for their efforts to save refinery jobs, and then later holding a vigil outside the governor’s mansion.
But before that, early yesterday morning, I got a call from a guy who works at the Sunoco plant. He calls me often to give me updates on what is going on.
Yesterday he sounded about as down as I’ve heard him. He said he wasn’t alone.
What is really aggravating a lot of these union workers is their belief that they have been misled from the beginning of this nightmare back in September, when Sunoco announced they would put their Marcus Hook and South Philly refineries up for sale, and that if a buyer was not found, they would be shut down.
ConocoPhillips announced a similar fate for their Trainer refinery two weeks later, only speeding up the process, shutting down production at the plant immediately.
What is bothering union members is the statements, both from local politicians and the company, that there were several parties interested in buying the plant, and at least one that was interested in maintaining the facility as a refinery. That would save most of the jobs at the plant.
Many of those statements were published in this newspaper and on this website.
Those hopes appeared to be dashed last week when Sunoco announced its earnings – along with another whopping loss tied to writeoffs connected to its money-losing refining operation. More than that, Sunoco also intimated that although they had reached out to as many as 150 potential buyers, none of them is seen as a legitimate suitor, and their belief now is that the plant will not continue to operate. To that end, they are proceeding with plans to shut it down.
A Sunoco spokesman could not have been more blunt:
"We did not receive a single offer for the Marcus Hook refinery," he said. "So we will continue to pursue alternate uses for the site."
The workers feel deceived.
As the guy who called me indicated, they would rather have been told this back in September and simply been able to come to grips with it and move on with their lives.
So, how about it, Sen. Casey? Rep. Meehan? Rep. Adolph?
Was all that talk about a potential buyer just talk?
Seems to me these workers have a right to know.
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