The strike by oil workers in the US has entered its second month with the giant energy corporations refusing to budge on workers’ demands, which center on safety, health care costs and the use of temporary contract employees in place of unionized workers. In the face of this intransigence, the United Steelworkers union has continued to limit the strike to a fraction of the workers it organizes in the industry.

This is an exclusive interview by the World Socialist Web Site with one of the many contractors who support the strike. The identity of this worker, who has extensive experience at oil refineries in Texas, Ohio, Indiana and other states, has been concealed to protect him from retribution.