Valero strikes tentative pact with union

Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. oil refiner, said it reached a tentative labor pact with the steelworkers union at its facility in Port Arthur, Texas, the company’s biggest.

All five unions at Port Arthur have now signed agreements with Valero, “and we expect that all the tentative agreements will be voted on by the union membership late next week,” said Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero.

Had negotiations failed and employees walked off the job, the San Antonio company planned to operate the Port Arthur refinery, the fourth-biggest in Texas with production at 294,000 barrels a day, with a contingency workforce.