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Wednesday, 07 January, 2009, 22:20 GMT | more >>

Union stands by BP workers



By Upstream staff 

The president of North America's largest industrial labour union said supermajor BP should reinstate - with back pay - workers fired following the 23 March blast at the company's Texas City refinery.

BP dismissed six workers for what an internal report called " failure to follow correct procedures in restarting an octane-enhancing unit", triggering an explosion which killed 15 workers and injured 170 others.

"BP continues to hold to the belief that this tragic incident wouldn't have occurred if the operators and supervisors had followed procedures," said United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard.

"How could they perform their jobs adequately if the equipment they were depending on wasn't functioning properly?"

A BP spokesman declined to discuss Gerard's statements.

"We've stated our position," said BP's Hugh Depland. "We stand by our report."

Two workers who were dismissed following the explosion filed a lawsuit last month alleging they were defamed by BP when the company fired them. The pair also allege BP's report, released in May, made accusatory statements.

The head of the Chemical Safety Board's Texas City probe, Don Holmstrom, said last week investigators were spending a "very significant amount of time" studying the instruments which reported equipment operations at the refinery.


Tuesday, 05 July, 2005, 21:15 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 06 July, 2005, 08:31 GMT

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