On 7th January, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced its plans to shut down its refinery in East Montreal. Shell intends to transform the refinery, which currently produces 130,000 barrels a day, into a fuel terminal. The conversion will take roughly a year according to a spokesperson for the company. After the conversion, the Montreal East facility will receive gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel (most likely from Europe), which will continue to be distributed through Shell’s nearby terminal in Montreal. This would be the second major oil refinery in Canada to close after Petro Canada shut down their Oakville refinery in 2005. The union that represents workers at the Shell refinery has already sounded the alarm that the company is trying to close down the plant in July.
On the surface, it may seem that the conversion from a refinery to a fuel terminal does not mean much. However, the effect on Shell workers is going to be very significant. “Of the 500 direct employees and the 2,500 indirect employees, there will only be about 30 employees working at the terminal,” said Jean-Pierre Rocheleau, president of Local 121 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP). “We don’t have any details about what would be happening to the employees.” Rocheleau said he expects to lobby all levels of government in an attempt to stop the closure of the plant, which Rocheleau said injects more than $200-million each year into Montreal’s economy.
The reason behind the closure of the Montreal East refinery is that Shell wants to make a “decent” profit, and the company would be more profitable my moving the refinery elsewhere. This is astounding considering that Shell reported a $26-billion profit in 2008! How much more profit does the company need? Because of this, 3,000 workers and their families are set to lose their source of income. Shell’s bosses see it as their right to destroy the livelihood of thousands and of a whole community dependent on them.
Under capitalism, the bosses will always seek to find a way to extract the most profit out of workers’ labour. If this means that they can generate more profit by moving their operations elsewhere, then so be it. Thus, aside from lobbying against the closure of the Montreal East refinery, the union leadership needs to be demanding the nationalization of the refinery under the oil workers’ control. If Shell isn’t happy with the amount of profit that it is making, then hand the refinery over to the workers!
The fact is that workers throughout Canada and Quebec support the nationalization of the oil industry. A poll conducted in 2005 showed that 49% of Canadians support nationalization; that number is much higher in Quebec where 67% support the nationalization of oil! Workers in Canada, and especially in Quebec, understand that the oil industry makes huge profits off the exploitation of our natural environment and those who drill, refine, and distribute it. The profits made from this exploitation end up in private pockets instead of benefiting the workers, who in the last analysis are the ones who turn it from a resource into a useful commodity.
The nationalization of the Montreal East refinery can be the first part of a larger program of nationalization of the oil industry across Canada. This program can defend the jobs of oil workers, as well as put much needed revenue into programs that benefit the lives of workers, such as Medicare, free accessible education, housing, etc.
Stop the closure of the Shell refinery!
Nationalize the refinery under workers’ control!
