By Erwin Seba

BEAUMONT Texas (Reuters). Union officials have agreed to set a voting date for a contract proposal that could bring an end to a close-to 10-month lockout. Exxon Mobil Official from the union said that there is a (NYSE:) oil refinery in Southeast Texas.

United Steelworkers (USW), Local 13243, agreed to send a sweetened Exxon Contract proposal that it received last week to 600 of its members. On Monday, February 21, a vote was planned.

Exxon made Friday contract amendments that make Martin Luther King Jr. Day paid holidays, update language concerning a union commission, and create a new job description to operate the 369.024 barrel-per day refinery and lubricant facility.

Bryan Gross (USW International Representative) said, “With the latest company move and the addition of the MLK holiday, it was time that the members had the say-so about where they go from here.”

Gross stated that “we still don’t believe the offer is right” and noted that union officials have not made any recommendation regarding the offer. It has taken 10 months. “We want everyone to feel free to vote as they wish. We’ll continue if they vote “no”. If they wish to vote ‘yes’, then we will continue.

Exxon could not be reached immediately for comment.

Oil company said that the lockout would be lifted when a company-approved contract was ratified, or the union was dissolved.

Beaumont union employees have not received their wages since May. However, managers and supervisors continue to produce Mobil 1 and gasoline.

Workers voted no to an Exxon proposal in October.

Exxon and the Union will negotiate a Return-to-Work Agreement with the workers, laying out guidelines for the returning workers prior to their re-entry into the refinery.

Exxon said that the lockout was initiated to protect the company from disruptions resulting from the strike threat at the nearby refinery, lubrication oil plants and Mobil 1’s motor oil production plant.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board conducted a vote to remove the union in November and December. However, the board took the ballots into its custody on Dec. 29, so that it could examine the USW’s charges that Exxon used the lockout to prevent the union from being removed.