BY PATTI IIYAMA
PASADENA, Texas - Members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) locked out by Crown Central Petroleum here have begun a public campaign to defend a group of their members facing frame-up charges by the company.

On May 29 about 35 people protested at the Federal Courthouse, where the first pretrial hearing took place in a civil suit brought by Crown against the unionists. Fourteen locked-out Crown workers, the secretary-treasurer of the local union, and the union itself - Local 4-227 of the OCAW - are charged by Crown with sabotage and conspiracy to commit sabotage.

The Crown workers walked as a group into the courtroom wearing red T-shirts emblazoned "Locked out by Crown - us today, you tomorrow." They were joined by a small number of unionists from the Lyondell-Citgo refinery and Shell Oil refinery, also organized by the OCAW; from the Anheuser- Busch plant organized by the Teamsters; and from the post office, members of the American Postal Workers Union. After the hearing, a brief impromptu rally was held on the steps of the courthouse.

In the days leading up to the hearing, teams of locked- out Crown workers reached out to other unionists for support.

Six workers visited the Anheuser-Busch brewery at shift change, where they received a warm welcome from the brewery workers who are in the midst of heated, drawn-out contract negotiations. Another group leafleted maintenance workers at the Lyondell-Citgo refinery. OCAW members there are facing demands for concessions similar to those rejected by workers at Crown. Later, a Crown activist spoke to 75 Lyondell-Citgo workers at their regular union meeting. Another team of locked-out workers attended a rally of postal workers protesting the privatization of priority mail.

On Feb. 5, 1996, managers of Crown Central Petroleum refinery just outside Pasadena, Texas, escorted members of the OCAW out of the plant and began running it with a combination of supervisors and scabs. Crown justified the lockout with allegations that union workers had committed acts of sabotage.

The FBI investigated these supposed acts of sabotage and filed no charges, despite dangling a $60,000 reward from Crown.

The locked-out Crown workers refuse to give up. They continue to maintain a daily picket at the refinery. Crown's response was to file a lawsuit to make the union surrender.

At the May 29 hearing, Federal District Court judge Lee Rosenthal gave Crown's high-priced attorneys the right to conduct a virtual "fishing expedition," authorizing them to take depositions from an unlimited number of people. The Crown attorneys stated that during the course of discovery they may well level additional charges against the defendants, as well as expand the list of unionists charged.

Before the hearing, workers mounted a steady campaign to get out the truth about the frame-up charges and the continued lockout. Most notable was the union's participation in the annual Strawberry Festival held in Pasadena, a working-class community on the outskirts of Houston dominated by refineries and chemical plants. Some 80 locked-out workers and their supporters marched behind a float in the Strawberry Festival Parade on May 9, carrying picket signs and hand-lettered posters denouncing the frame- up. The float was dominated by "Crownosaurus," a large dinosaur piņata, representing the threefold increase in toxic releases since the lockout began. Marchers were greeted by sustained applause from those watching the parade.

The next weekend locked-out Crown workers sponsored a booth at the Pasadena Strawberry Festival Fair where they gathered more than 400 hundred signatures on an "Open Letter" to the chairman of Crown Central protesting the frame-up and demanding that the company end the lockout.

"I think it was awesome," said Richard Kimes, a defendant in the lawsuit who originally proposed participating in the Strawberry Festival. "The public support we had overwhelmed me. I hadn't realized how much people in the community back us."

Public defense of the framed-up oil workers has also begun to get attention nationally. Dean Cook, one of the locked-out

Crown workers, was invited to participate in the OCAW Chemical Sector Conference, a meeting of delegates from OCAW locals representing workers in the chemical industry. "It gave me a chance to tell about the lawsuit to workers around the country, both rank and file and staff," he reported. "And we collected $1,200 in addition to selling 40 T-shirts. Some delegates took Open Letters home with them and already sent them back, asking for more."

The international OCAW has continued its corporate campaign to boycott Crown gasoline, flying several locked- out workers to confront the annual stockholders meeting in Baltimore on April 23.

Shareholders rejected the unionists' motions to block a big bonus and pay increase for Crown Chairman Henry Rosenberg. An article in the Baltimore Sun on the shareholders meeting also gave prominent mention to the lawsuit:

"David Arnold, another worker, recalled giving Rosenberg a United Way medal for philanthropy. Now, he said, the company was accusing him in a lawsuit of trying to sabotage the Pasadena refinery. `The real conspiracy was committed by the Crown management,' he said."

The locked-out workers at Crown have established a Web page. The address is: http://nwwin.com/~ocaw4227.

Patti Iiyama is an operator at Lyondell-Citgo Refinery and a member of OCAW Local 4-227. Jerry Freiwirth, an operator at Shell Oil Refinery and member of OCAW Local 4- 367, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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