{"id":398643,"date":"2026-08-05T20:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398643\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:34:10","slug":"ashland-specialty-chemicals-workers-ratify-new-contract-ending-42-day-strike-in-texas-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398643\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashland Specialty Chemicals workers ratify new contract, ending 42-day strike in Texas City"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXAS CITY, Texas \u2013 Union leaders in Texas City<\/a> say a long-running strike involving about 70 skilled workers at Ashland Specialty Chemicals is over after members ratified a new three-year contract.<\/p>\n

The Texas City Metal Trades Council announced Wednesday that it reached an agreement with Ashland, ending a 42-day strike that began June 24 when the prior contract expired. The council includes members of IUOE Local 564, IBEW Local 527, UA Local 211 and IAM District 776.<\/p>\n

Union workers on strike against Ashland Specialty Chemicals in Texas City, Texas (Texas AFL-CIO)<\/p>\n

Lewis Crawford, IUOE Local 564 business agent and the council\u2019s lead negotiator, praised members for staying unified through the walkout, saying: <\/p>\n

\u201cOur Texas City Metal Trades Council members showed up for each other, every single day. A strike is never easy. It asks everything of our members and their families, and this one asked more than most. We didn\u2019t win every fight at that table \u2014 but we won something no contract can put a price on: trust, unity, and a brotherhood forged on that picket line. We\u2019re not just going back to work. We\u2019re going back stronger, together, than the local that walked out 42 days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis Crawford<\/p>\n

According to the union, the new contract includes a 9.25% wage increase over three years, 80 hours of paid incidental sick leave, 25 weeks of short-term disability leave, limits on incidental craft work, increased vacation days, restored packager bidding rights and restored seniority for bidding on new positions.<\/p>\n

Texas AFL-CIO President Leonard Aguilar said the contract reflects a broader push focused on workplace and community safety, stating, \u201cWe\u2019re proud of the union members who put it all on the line to guarantee safety for themselves and their community.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gulf Coast labor leaders also pointed to the strike as part of a recent stretch of labor actions in the region, with Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation Executive Director Hany Khalil saying, \u201cFor 42 days, these workers stood in solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPRC 2 has contacted Ashland for a comment on the new contract. We are awaiting a response.<\/p>\n

Start Here, Houston<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS CITY, Texas \u2013 Union leaders in Texas City say a long-running strike involving about 70 skilled workers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[139942,126274,58944,139946,139944,139943,27,9192,126276,29,28,139945,30430,13781],"class_list":["post-398643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-ashland","tag-ashland-specialty-chemicals","tag-chemical-plants","tag-iam-district-776","tag-ibew-local-527","tag-iuoe-local-564","tag-texas","tag-texas-city","tag-texas-city-metal-trades-council","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-ua-local-211","tag-unions","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}