By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters). – Negotiators at Chevron Corp (NYSE:) and the United Steelworkers union (USW) are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss a possible end to a strike at the company’s oil refinery in Richmond, California, spokespeople for both sides said.

Talks will mark the second face-to-face encounter in two weeks between Chevron Local 12-5 and USW Local 12. The strike was initiated by 500 workers of the 245,271-barrel-per-day refinery. It began on March 21, after both sides failed to come up with a new labor contract.

Chevron continues to manage the second-largest refinery in California with supervisors and managers. According to Chevron, the plant produces about 20% of Northern California’s gasoline and 60% for jet fuel at local airports.

“We look forward to continuing formal discussions,” said Chevron spokesperson Tyler Kruzich.

Kruzich said the sides held informal talks recently, while B.K. White is the first vice president for Local 12-5.

The union began the strike after members of Local 12-5 had twice rejected the company’s contract proposal. They want a 5% wage rise on top of the U.S. Refinery Owners and the USW International union’s 12% increase over four years.

Union officials stated that they sought additional wages because recent wage increases were largely inefficient due to high housing and insurance costs in California.

According to state filings, the refinery reported at most two malfunctions during the shutdown. In mid-April, the refinery will shut down its crude distillation plant for planned maintenance. These units are responsible for primary refining and providing feedstocks to all the other units.

A malfunction caused the shutdown temporarily of a hydrotreater that produces jet fuel, which caused prices to rise in California. This week, diesel and jet fuel prices fell.