January 22, 2001 AFL-CIO Union Label & Service Trades Department News Release

Contract Ends 5-year Lockout, Boycott at Crown Petroleum

Members of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers (PACE) Local Union 4-227 at the Crown Petroleum refinery in Pasadena, Tex., have ratified a new labor agreement with the company.

The pact brings to an end a 5-year lockout of the workers from their jobs and a multi-faceted union campaign against the company that included a boycott of its products and filling stations.

PACE Executive Vice President Robert E. Wages, who directed the settlement talks, called the return of PACE members to the refinery "a great victory" and expressed thanks that "peace has been declared by both sides."

PACE President Boyd Young said the union members are returning to work under a contract that provides essential guarantees and protections. "It is time to put rancor aside and work with Crown to improve the operation of the refinery and its environmental compliance," he added.

Local 4-227 President Mack Hickerson expressed heartfelt thanks to "the thousands of labor, civil rights, religious and environmental activists who rallied around our cause and gave life to our campaign."

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