Striking Oil Workers Protest Catsimatidis for Underpaying Essential Workers
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NEW YORK, May 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Teamsters and striking oil workers rallied outside of billionaire John Catsimatidis Manhattan offices today in protest of the low wages paid to essential workers at Catsimatidis United Metro Energy. Workers have been on strike since April 19. We were essential enough to report to work through the pandemic, but not essential enough for a raise and better health and retirement benefits, said Andre Soleyn, a Terminal Operator at United Metro Energy. We are on strike for a better future for our families.
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Immigrant Workers on Strike for Higher Wages at Catsimatidis’ Oil Company
The company has sent letters to three of the workers on strike stating that they have been permanently replaced. Neither UMEC nor Catsimatidis himself responded to Documented’s request for comment.
For five years, Dennis Spence has worked as a terminal operator for United Metro Energy Corp. (UMEC). An immigrant from the small Caribbean island of St. Vincent, Spence has three daughters and thought himself fortunate to have a job that paid $27.50 an hour. However, the work was inherently dangerous. Every night, he was required to climb up and down several large oil and chemical tanks to gauge their capacity. One small slip could be fatal.
Brooklyn Oil Workers Hope Strike Puts Heat on Billionaire Boss Catsimatidis
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Gabriel Sandoval/ THE CITY
Two dozen workers at a Brooklyn-based oil company are on strike to demand salary increases and better benefits from the firm’s billionaire owner: supermarket mogul, talk radio station owner and former GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis.
Terminal operators, fleet mechanics and service technicians formed a picket line outside the fuel facility in Greenpoint on April 19, after more than two years of negotiations between United Metro Energy and Teamsters Local 553 failed to produce a contract agreement.
The strikers, who note Catsimatidis has declared his intention to enlist some “replacement” workers, have manned the picket line around the clock ever since.