Up to 4,000 members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) stopped working on Sunday and walked off the job launching the first nationwide walkout since 1980. The workers spanned nine sites across California, Texas, Kentucky, and Washington state which supply more than 10 percent of U.S. oil refining capacity. According to USW, it represents workers at 65 U.S. refineries responsible for over 60 percent of the country’s oil.

The strike began on Sunday after the expiration of the current contract and without an agreement over new terms. The oil workers demands include higher wagers, safer working conditions, and better healthcare. Tom Conway, USW’s Vice President of Administration, pointed out the wealth of the U.S. oil industry and its obvious capacity to meet the reasonable demands of its workers.

“The problem is that oil companies are too greedy to make a positive change in the workplace and they continue to value production and profit over health and safety, workers and the community,” said Conway. He referenced specific concerns like strenuous overtime, dangerous working conditions that have lead to daily fires, leaks, and explosions, and the uncontrolled hiring of non-union contract workers. Shell is leading the contract talks on behalf of ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and other major companies and hopes to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Refineries have committed to keep their operations running with the help of management and replacement contractors. They believe the strike is not likely to affect crude prices, but USW may decide to expand the strike to other facilities. The 1980 nationwide work stoppage lasted 3 months,  but Andy Lipow, president of Lippow Oil Associates remembers minimal impact from this last big strike. “People don’t remember what happened in the 1980s,” said Lipow. “The refineries ran fine and the impact was minimal.”

But Wayne Rinick, a USW spokesperson, highlighted increased safety as the primary demand. To contextualize the workers’ concerns, Rinick referenced the 2005 refinery accident in Texas that killed 15 workers and the 2012 refinery fire in San Francisco that forced thousands to seek medical attention due to respiratory problems.