Agreement reached with some of the Conoco-Ponca City workers

<br>PONCA CITY, Okla. (AP) _ Tentative agreement has been reached on a new contract for some of the 478 workers at the Conoco Inc. refinery, while negotiations continue for others, union and company officials

Wednesday, April 3rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PONCA CITY, Okla. (AP) _ Tentative agreement has been reached on a new contract for some of the 478 workers at the Conoco Inc. refinery, while negotiations continue for others, union and company officials said Wednesday.

The union's technology group, representing 103 workers, has agreed to a tentative contract, said Conoco spokesman John Bennitt.

Lynne Baker, a spokeswoman for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International union, said contract talks for the other workers were going well.

The union announced March 26 that its workers were prepared to strike at Conoco refineries in Ponca City, Denver and Billings, Mont., if it couldn't reach new pacts with the company by April 1, when the existing Ponca City contract expired.

Houston-based Conoco employs about 1,900 full-time workers in Ponca City, plus a number of contract workers. The refinery can handle up to 190,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

If the union reaches an accord with management regarding all 478 of its workers, a union vote could come in the next two weeks, Baker said.

Contracts at the Denver and Billings plants, which are smaller than Ponca City, expired Feb. 1. Conoco and the union have yet to agree on new contracts at those plants.

Phillips Petroleum Co. of Bartlesville, which is set to merge with Conoco later this year, said recently it has signed contracts with all of its refinery workers who are represented by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International.

New talks between Conoco and the union in Billings and Denver would likely occur after negotiations are concluded in Ponca City, Baker said.