Boycott Crown/Break The Lockout

The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union calls upon you to boycott Crown to break a twenty-month lockout. Crown Central Petroleum locked out 250 union refinery workers from its Pasadena oil refinery near Houston, on February 5, 1996, then demanded the permanent replacement of nearly half the refinery's work force as a condition for ending the lockout. Crown left these workers with no means to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and return to their jobs, except by offering to surrender their jobs.

Crown's goal is to bust the union. That is the reason this boycott is so important. Not only to the 250 families who are directly impacted, but to all of us. Every union broken weakens labor, and that weakens all workers. This lockout must be broken.

Crown launched this assault at the same time its CEO, Henry Rosenberg, Jr., enjoyed a 14% hike in compensation, up to $691,895. This figure fails to account for the millions Mr. Rosenberg receives annually from the multi-billion dollar Blaustein estate.

Crown claims "competitiveness" drives this attack on workers. But wages are not a competitive factor in the oil refining industry because refiners pay a common wage set through nationwide pattern bargaining. Crown's problem has not been competitiveness, it's been mismanagement. Crown has lost millions in speculative investment and sloppy crude-oil purchases. After years of blundering, the company is demanding that the union members pick up the tab for its mistakes, and bust the union in the bargain.

250 locked out families need your help. All workers need your help.

The Carrboro Crown station on Highway 54 West across from Carrboro Plaza has the third highest volume of any Crown station in the state. Between 4 and 6 pm they are packed. "Boycott Crown" signs and leaflets at both entrances during these hours would be very effective at curtailing their sales.

Leaflets are available at Internationalist Books. For more information, call 919-876-3728.