Three weeks after they walked off the job at BP Whiting Refinery with no end to the strike in sight, members of United Steelworkers Local 7-1 were urged Saturday to stay the course and not cross the picket lines.

"Solidarity is the key. It's they only way to protect our contract," Steve Garey, a member of the National Oil Bargaining Policy Committee, told several hundred striking members and their spouses at a Saturday rally at Lloyd McBride Local 1014 union hall in Gary.

"We cannot betray each other," Garey said.

Garey stressed it's important for the union members to make a sacrifice now for their long-term benefit and the benefit for future generations of oil workers.

USW members at the Whiting refinery earn between $80,000 and $100,000 a year with overtime, money they aren't receiving during the strike. While there is some money in a strike fund, union officials say it is providing members with a lot less money than what they normally take home.

While none of the USW members working at the Whiting refinery have crossed the picket line as yet, Jim Savage, another member of the national bargaining committee, said some members have at other striking locations, as have some members of other unions, a fact he called discouraging.

The USW called a national strike against the oil companies on Feb 1, beginning with nine refineries in four states, after it said national talks with Shell Oil Co. broke off. One week later, the union extended the strike to include BP refineries in Whiting and Toledo, Ohio, and last week, extended it again to include a total of 15 refineries and some production facilities, affecting 6,550 workers.

The main issues on the national level have been safety, long mandatory working hours and the use of contract employees for jobs traditionally done by USW members.

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