By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters). -Negotiators of the United Steelworkers union. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE 🙂 met Tuesday, for the first since Beaumont, Texas refinery workers voted to reject a proposed contract, according to a union statement.

Exxon didn’t offer any new contracts Tuesday according to the USW Local13-243 statement. That is approximately 585 hours of work that have been denied entry at the plant in the past May 1.

Julie King, spokesperson at Exxon, stated that Exxon could not comment immediately on the meeting.

Bryan Gross, USW International’s representative declined to give details about what the union had proposed during the meeting. According to Gross, the meeting did not include any discussion of plans to meet once again.

The USW stated that they made the offer and hope the company will accept it.

A majority of the 400 locked-out workers who cast ballots on Oct. 19 voted to reject the contract offer, which would eliminate job seniority for workers at the 369,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and adjoining lubricant oil blending and packaging plant.

Exxon said that its final offer would be on the table for Monday. If it is not, Exxon would eliminate some of the provisions. The company stated it is essential that job seniors are eliminated and proposed changes be made to ensure the company’s competitiveness in low-margin periods.

USW stated that the USW would lose job seniority, which will affect employees’ ability to choose their job assignments. It may also result in the removal of most highly skilled workers from the operating refinery unit.

Between Nov. 12th and Dec. 22, all 585 members of USW 13-244 are expected to vote on the removal of the union from this refinery.