Workers at five Spanish refineries have voted to strike on 27 May over retirement demands, with Spanish union STR eyeing "a complete halt to production" at the facilities.
Workers at refineries accounting for half of Spain's 1.49mn b/d of crude distillation capacity have voted to support the one-day strike, according to the STR trade union.
The union does not rule out calling off the strike if the sector association agrees to further talks on retirement but said that "if there is no real progress, the stoppage will go ahead".
The strike could affect production at BP's 110,000 b/d Castellon facility, Spain integrated Repsol's 180,000 b/d Tarragona and 220,000 b/d Cartagena facilities, Spanish integrated oil firm Moeve's 244,000 b/d Algeciras and the 28,000 b/d Asesa bitumen refinery co-owned by Repsol and Moeve.
Workers at Moeve's product terminal in Tenerife, Canary Islands, have also voted to back the strike — which could affect one of Spain's largest marine fuels hubs and the main fuels distribution centre for the archipelago.
Another Spanish union, Comisiones Obreras, which controls Moeve's 220,000 b/d Huelva facility, is not backing the strike, while workers representatives at Repsol's 220,000 b/d Bilbao and 120,000 b/d Coruna refineries have scheduled a vote on the action for next week, STR coordinator Toni Carmona told Argus.
The minimum services STR has proposed to Spain's ecological transition ministry only covers the staff necessary to maintain safety at the refineries. "Refineries cannot be shut down partially without undermining the right to strike" STR said.
A complete halt to some refinery output would involve a staggered shutdown and restarting of refinery units in the days before and after the strike, impacting Spanish refinery output beyond the social action.
A meeting between STR and Spanish fuels industry association AICE in Madrid yesterday ended without an agreement after proposals to begin "a genuine channel for dialogue and negotiation," were rejected by the representatives of the refinery operators, the trade union said.
Moeve and Repsol declined to comment on the planned strike and referred questions to AICE, which has not yet responded to a request for comment.
