National Nurses United

8 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G M A R C H 2 0 1 5 NEWS BRIEFS NATIONAL W orkers at oil refineries around the nation where United Steelworkers members were on strike in February received a boost of solidarity when National Nurse United RN members joined their picket lines to show support and share stories about why it's critical for workers to have a say in their work in order to protect the health and safety of themselves and their communities. The solidarity worked; USW ended the strike March 12 after reaching a tentative four-year deal with Shell Oil that will serve as a model for other contracts. Nurses walked and chanted along strike lines with USW refinery workers at Tesoro refineries in Martinez, Calif., as well as in Carson, Calif. Some nurses also turned out to picket lines for USW workers at Sherwin Alumina, an alumina plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. "Nurses are here today because so many of the conditions the steelworkers are facing are the same the nurses are facing," said Katy Roemer, an RN at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, when she joined their strike line Feb. 12. "They need the abil- ity to shut down production when they iden- tify health and safety risks." Less than a week later, an explosion at an ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, Calif. rocked the community and spewed spent catalyst soot and ash across the surrounding neighborhoods. California Nurses Associa- tion nurses rushed out to the scene and spoke to news media about how RNs are worried about the health and safety of not only refinery workers, but of the entire community. After spending just over an hour at the scene, the "odor coming from the site became so pungent that we had to walk away," said Maria Vazquez, an RN at Provi- dence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance. "Imagine how much the workers inside and the surrounding areas are feeling on a daily basis." When refineries have accidents and gas flares, toxic substances and particulates are often released into the air. Pamela Luiz, an RN who works in the emergency room at Kaiser Antioch and also lives in Antioch, has resided downwind of the Tesoro Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez for 20 years. She said that asthmas rates in her community are alarming and every time there's a refin- ery release, the nurses observe many more people flooding the ER. She's constantly worried for her granddaughter, who lives with her and suffers from asthma. "Before, you'd see more asthma cases with the spring and fall weather changes," said Luiz. "Now it's gotten to the point where it's year round. Refinery workers at the Martinez plant reported that they are often forced to work mandatory overtime; required to work consecutive days for weeks without a day off; constantly asked to speed up the throughput of the refinery while at the same time pushed to cut corners; and ignored by management when they put in requests for equipment to be repaired or maintained. Steelworker Rafael Zabat works on the "alky unit," a nickname for the "alkylation plant," where workers operate sophisticated equip- ment that takes waste gases from the refining process and, using sulfuric acid as a catalyst, converts them into a liquid that is used to blend high-octane gasoline. It's a complicated process that requires many different chemicals and materials to be held in balance and strict atten- tion to various pressures, levels, and tempera- tures in order to run within safe parameters. Zabat and his coworkers said that, for years, company has been pushing the opera- tors who control the "board" (kind of the NNU nurses support United Steelworkers on strike lines

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