BP revises Whiting oil refinery contract offer after union members reject proposal

March 13 (Reuters) - BP BP.L on Friday issued a revised contract offer to union workers at its Whiting, Indiana, oil refinery after members of the United Steelworkers overwhelmingly rejected what the company had described as its "last, best and final" proposal.

The USW stated on Thursday that "an unprecedented 94% of union members voted Thursday and 98.3% voted not to accept BP's offer."

BP had said the offer would expire in 10 calendar days.

"This revised offer isn’t about penalizing the Union or its members for rejecting the offer. It’s simply a reflection that certain incentives were contingent on reaching agreement by March 12, 2026," BP said in an employee bulletin released after the vote on Friday.

Under the revised proposal, first-year wage increases would no longer be retroactive to February 1, 2026, instead taking effect from the first full pay period after ratification.

BP also reduced a $7,500 lump-sum payment to $2,500, bringing total lump-sum payments to a range of $2,500 to $10,000.

The company said the revised offer would not have an expiration date.

USW has said that after two months of negotiations, BP's proposal came with changes to the basic terms of the contract, including limiting the union's ability to strike and stripping its bargaining rights, base wage cuts across classifications, elimination and outsourcing of 100 union jobs, ending seniority protections in case of layoffs, and more.

United Steelworkers Local 7-1, which represents around 800 workers at the largest refinery in the U.S. Midwest, said its bargaining committee has reported the voting results to BP and will give the company an opportunity to present a more serious proposal.

Since their contract expired on January 31, the union has been working under rolling 24-hour extensions of their previous agreement.