For the first time, Crown's stock has dipped into single digits, which represents a 75 percent drop from its high in 1989 and a 50 percent drop from its 1998 high. Crown reported a $2.2 million loss for the second quarter, following a $13.7 million first quarter loss.
Crown said the losses were due to "lost-time as a result of operating disruptions" (i.e. downsizing and less-skilled replacement workers).
Even more startling is a 3.6 percent drop in per station gasoline volume in comparison to the same period last year - the first tangible evidence that the boycott is taking hold.
This drop occurred at a time when gasoline prices sank dramatically and overall gasoline consumption rose. Crown said "retail marketing operating results for the second quarter were disappointing (emphasis added)."
Cracks in the Crown empire are appearing. Crown's "go-to" lawyer John Graham III, generally viewed as the bridge between Crown and the Blaustein heirs, has decided to move to Washington D.C. with another law firm.
Atapco - Crown's largest shareholder and a holding company representing the heirs (including Crown CEO Henry Rosenberg and his two sons) of Jacob Blaustein, founder of Amoco - has filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission to separate its ownership of Crown from the Rosenbergs.
Have family members tired of the Rosenbergs squandering their inherited fortune? Are they embarrassed by charges of racism, sexism, environmental destruction and union busting?
OCAW has concentrated its boycott activity in the Greater Baltimore area, Crown's largest market, and has stepped up a radio blitz and informational leafleting of gas stations in inner-city areas.
New boycott activity has begun in Birmingham, Ala., renown for its civil rights and union traditions. Numerous unions - including the Jefferson County Labor Council, United Mine Workers of America, United Steelworkers of America, United Auto Workers and Communication Workers of America - are stepping forward to support the boycott in Birmingham.
Even more startling is a
3.6 percent drop in per
station gasoline volume in
comparison to the same
period last year - the first
tangible evidence that the
boycott is taking hold.
Several national union publications have covered the
Crown lockout.
Recent national endorsees of the campaign against Crown include: the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Southern Organizing Committee for Social and Economic Justice, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Coalition of Labor Union Women.
On August 26, Crown received the largest pollution fine in the history of Texas - over $1 million - for its pollution law violations and poisoning of surrounding neighborhoods.
Texans United Educational Fund and locked-out OCAW members successfully lobbied the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the state agency charged with enforcing environmental laws, to make the company pay for its violations and clean up its act.
Still pending is a decision by the TNRCC to force the installation of a $100 million desulfurization unit at the company's Pasadena refinery. OCAW members say this is the only way to save lives in the polluted neighborhoods, and both EPA and the Harris County Pollution Control Board are supporting the installation.
Lars Myhre, of the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers Union (NOPEF), journeyed to Houston and conducted an investigation of the lockout on September 16. He will report his findings to Statoil, the state-owned oil company of Norway, which recently contracted with Crown to refine products for Statoil to sell in the U.S. market.
In July, Statoil became the first multinational company to sign an agreement supporting unionization of its operations. NOPEF and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy and General Workers' Unions, to which OCAW is affiliated, also signed the agreement.
OCAW Reporter, September-October 1998