Overview
- Braun joined locked-out refinery workers on the Whiting picket line and urged BP to come back to the bargaining table.
- More than 800 union members have been locked out since mid-March after contract talks broke down, and workers say they will hold 24/7 pickets until talks resume.
- Union leaders call the lockout illegal and say BP wants to eliminate about 100 jobs and cut pay for nearly all positions.
- BP says its March 17 proposal is comprehensive, the refinery is running with trained staff, and it does not expect production disruptions.
- The company says the lockout will stay in place until the union accepts its offer and reports no new bargaining requests, a hard line that heightens stakes at a 440,000-barrel-per-day plant that supplies the Chicago region where only a long stoppage would likely affect fuel prices.