Workers at the Martinez Renewables plant in Northern California remain on strike, with United Steelworkers Local 5 entering a second week on the picket line after walking out April 27. The facility, a 50/50 joint venture between Marathon Petroleum and Finland's Neste, is the largest renewable diesel (RD) plant in California, with nameplate capacity of 730 million gallons per year (MMgy). It was converted from Marathon's former petroleum refinery in 2022.
The walkout followed nearly four months of failed contract negotiations. The previous labor agreement expired January 31, 2026, and bargaining since then has not produced a replacement.
More than 100 hourly employees are off the job, per KQED. The union is pushing for a contract that mirrors the four-year pattern agreement USW reached with U.S. oil refinery operators earlier this year, which included a 15% wage increase. Martinez Renewables has so far declined to accept those pattern terms.
Safety is the other half of the dispute. The strike is the latest chapter in a multi-year fight over conditions at the plant, where a November 2023 fire engulfed worker Jerome Serrano, leaving him with third-degree burns over 80% of his body. Cal/OSHA fined the refinery over the incident, and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has been investigating the site after multiple fires. USW Local 5 president Nick Plurkowski said in a statement that workers came ready to bargain and that "Marathon walked away from the table."
Marathon disputes that. A company spokesperson said the operator has bargained in good faith over the four-month negotiation and pointed to a series of corrective and preventive actions implemented since the 2023 incident.
The dispute has not, so far, changed the company's production guidance. Martinez Renewables plans to run at roughly 90% utilization at its Northern California plant in the second quarter of 2026, the company said in its latest earnings call.
