BY PATTI IIYAMA
HOUSTON - "We've been knocked down again and again," said Elroy Jacobs, one of the 252 workers locked out of Crown Central Petroleum's refinery in Pasadena, Texas. He was at a candlelight vigil celebrating the second anniversary of the lockout in February. "First, we got lockedout, then the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] ruled against us, then the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] came after us, now Crown has filed a lawsuit against us. But we're still here, still fighting; we just keep coming back."

The combative spirit of the locked-out workers was seen again in mid-March at a meeting of around 30 union activists to discuss stepped-up solidarity, especially around the new challenge posed by Crown's lawsuit. Crown filed a civil lawsuit in federal court on Jan. 15, 1998, charging 14 operators who had worked at the catalytic cracking unit at Crown with committing more than 400 acts of sabotage with the "knowledge, consent and encouragement of the union." The suit also charges the secretary-treasurer of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) Local 4-227 and the union local itself, along with the 14 unionists, with conspiracy to commit sabotage. It was filed just before the statute of limitations expired.

The allegation of sabotage was used by Crown to justify its lockout of members of OCAW Local 4-227. Their three-year contract had expired on Feb. 1, 1996, and negotiations were deadlocked around management's insistence on laying off hourly workers without regard to seniority, replacing union workers with temporary workers, and other major concessions.

On February 5 managers escorted all the unionized employees out of the plant and locked the front gates. They have kept the refinery running continuously since then with managers, secretaries, and replacement workers.

"The reason why we're here today is that we are still out here resisting - over 200 out of 252 still come out to walk the picket line every week - but we also need to reach out and involve others in our fight," said Dean Cook, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, who opened up the March 17 meeting in solidarity with the two-year-old struggle. "Look at the civil rights movement in this country. They had some good leaders, but it wasn't until tens of thousands got out in the streets that they won. It takes people to make change."

The meeting was held at the union hall of OCAW Local 4- 227. Four of the defendants named in the lawsuit were present, as well as around a dozen other locked-out unionists from Crown, fellow OCAW members from the Lyondell-Citgo and Shell Oil refineries, some members of other area unions, and students from the University of Houston.

Cook presented a brief history of the lockout, explaining that Crown postponed the lockout until after a record- breaking freeze had passed and experienced operators and maintenance workers got the units running smoothly.

`Sabotage' charge a pretext for lockout

The OCAW charged the company with unfair labor practices for locking the workers out without just cause. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that while Crown had not proven that there had been sabotage, Crown only had to believe that there was sabotage to justify their action.

The FBI opened up a criminal investigation of Crown's charges about a month after the lockout. "They came out at 6 a.m. to get us unaware and stayed for two and a half hours," stated David Arnold, another defendant who had worked 27 years for Crown. "I asked if I needed a lawyer present, and they said no. Finally, I had to tell them to leave because they were asking more and more personal questions, and I was getting mad.

"But read the lawsuit and see," Arnold said. "Nobody would sabotage the plant. It would be like committing suicide, because we were working there and would have been the first to go."

Crown offered a reward of $20,000, which was eventually increased to $60,000, for information leading to a conviction for sabotaging the refinery. There were no takers, but the FBI never closed the case.

"The civil suit filed by Crown is really an attack on all workers," asserted Dean Cook. "They want to take away our homes, our cars, our savings, anything we have left since the lockout. They want to clean out the union treasury. They want to intimidate workers so they will be afraid to speak out and exercise their rights. They want to make workers afraid of being sued, of being investigated by the FBI."

He also pointed to the law firm hired by Crown as an indication of the high stakes involved in this suit. The firm is Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, "a Washington powerhouse ... one of the city's most visible legal and political institutions," according to the New York Times. Robert Strauss, one of the senior partners, was national chairman of the Democratic Party in the 1970s and later U.S. Ambassador to Moscow. Vernon Jordan, a close advisor of President Clinton, is another partner.

Cook reviewed some of the specific charges mentioned in the lawsuit and detailed how events and conversations had been distorted, taken out of context, or flat-out lied about. The defendants have met to put together a point-by-point refutation of each allegation of sabotage.

"Basically, we've been charged for doing nothing but our normal jobs," said another defendant, Tommy Clark. "There isn't any evidence of sabotage, let alone a conspiracy."

Public defense of framed-up unionists
People at the meeting agreed that a public defense of the 15 unionists charged with sabotage and conspiracy to commit sabotage was necessary to win the case and had many ideas for what to do next.

"We ought to let everyone know about that law firm, scandalize them for representing Crown," volunteered B.J. Powell, an operator at Lyondell-Citgo Refinery. "They're high up in the Democratic Party and isn't the Democratic Party supposed to be the party of working people? What are they doing representing Crown, which locked out workers?"

"Maybe a bunch of us could file an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief," suggested Doug Bennett, another operator from Lyondell-Citgo. "That way we could show that you aren't alone and have a lot of support. Another way to get out your side is to get interviews with the media, like the series of articles in the Houston Chronicle about `worked to death.' I know they stirred a debate in our plant. If no one else knows how ridiculous the charges are, it's no good."

Other participants raised the idea of defendants speaking to union meetings or informal house meetings, and proposed going out in the community door-to-door. One idea that received broad support at the meeting was an open letter to Crown, calling on the company to drop the charges in the lawsuit, stop the lies about sabotage, and end the lockout.

Patsy Butler, a former heavy equipment operator at Lyondell-Citgo, backed this idea, saying, "That's the broadest way to get out to people. We can gather signatures in our workplaces and in the community so people who wouldn't come to the picket line or meetings can still show their support."

"Another thing is to encourage people to get out to the picket line," said Jerry Freiwirth, an operator from Shell Oil. "Most of my co-workers think the fight is over, but if they come out to the picket line, they'll see - up close and personal - that this isn't so."

Alvin Freeman, the chairman for the Crown unit of OCAW Local 4-227, was introduced from the audience. He greeted participants, saying, "We welcome your input and participation in our fight. This is a very positive step in the right direction."

Some of the operators from Lyondell-Citgo described what is beginning to happen at that refinery as the company gears up for early negotiations. Virtually all other oil companies nationally have offered a three-year extension of the present contract to 2002. Lyondell-Citgo and other Citgo plants have refused to go along with this pattern, claiming they need more concessions. Many of their demands are similar to those of Crown before the lock-out. The present contract ends Jan. 31, 1999. Lyondell-Citgo is starting to harass some of the more outspoken workers, trying to enforce stricter discipline, spreading rumors about sabotage to cover management mistakes, and other actions familiar to the Crown workers.

"I want to warn you Lyondell-Citgo workers to watch your backs. Management is building a case against you already," said Tommy Clark. "At least you have some time to get ready; we didn't."

The meeting ended with the decision to broaden support by building the next bi-weekly meeting.

Patti Iiyama is an operator at Lyondell-Citgo refinery and a member of OCAW Local 4-227.  
 
 
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