Teamsters approve revised offer, ending labor dispute at St. Paul Park refinery

Union workers at Marathon Petroleum's St. Paul Park refinery approved a new contract Thursday, ending a five-month work stoppage.

The 200 members of Teamsters Local 120 are scheduled to resume work Tuesday. They agreed to a revised contract offer, after rejecting an earlier Marathon offer nine days ago.

Marathon's improved offer included protections that significantly limit the company's ability to subcontract work done by union workers, Teamsters Local 120 said in a statement.

"This has been a long battle, with many twists and turns, but we are immensely proud of our members who put their livelihoods on the line to demand better working conditions," Scott Kroona, a business agent for Teamsters Local 120, said in a statement.

In a statement, Marathon said it is "pleased to have reached a mutually satisfactory, six-year labor agreement with the Teamsters Local 120."

Three weeks after their contract had expired, workers went on strike on Jan. 22, largely over contracting out issues. The Teamsters say they were locked out of their jobs after offering to return to work shortly after the strike began.

Marathon has dismissed the notion of a lockout, saying the union has been on strike. The company has continued operating the refinery with management employees from St. Paul Park and its other refineries.

The union has maintained that Marathon's earlier contract offers would cost it more than 40 jobs, with Teamsters workers being replaced by employees of nonunion contractors — a move that would compromise plant safety.

"From the start of the work stoppage, Teamsters Local 120 members made it crystal clear that safety was their top priority," Kroona said. "While this new contract addresses some of our concerns, it does not address them all."

In its statement, Marathon said "the ratified contract focuses on safety, the continuous improvement of our refinery, fair wage increases for our employees, and contracts out only one, non-safety sensitive job."

Marathon has maintained that its earlier contract offers would have led to only one job being contracted out.

On June 22, members of Local 120 voted 125-38 against Marathon's "final" proposal made on March 1. Marathon said the company and the union met on June 26 and it made a revised offer the next day.

Teamsters Local 120 did not release the vote tally for the contract approved Thursday, though Marathon said it was supported by a "significant majority of our employees."

Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon, the nation's largest oil refiner, bought the St. Paul Park refinery in 2018. The property was part of Marathon's $23 billion buyout of San Antonio-based Andeavor.

Marathon Petroleum's corporate predecessor, Marathon Oil, co-owned or owned the St. Paul Park refinery from 1997 to 2010. Marathon, one of two oil refineries in Minnesota, is the prime gasoline supplier to Speedway stations in the Twin Cities.