Gulf Oil accord: short of union wage goal

Gulf Oil and the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers reached a tentative settlement Jan. 11 in the first major labor contract bargaining of 1982, probably setting a pattern for 400 contracts with 98 oil refiners and averting a threatened strike by 55,000 workers.

The Gulf agreement, reached during a contract extension, will increase wages 16 percent over 2 years and add to fringe benefits. But it will not give the oil workers the no-layoff guarantees that had they had wanted.

The workers' national average wage of $11.66 an hour will rise $1.05 an hour the first year and an additional 90 cents in the second year if, as expected, the settlement is approved by workers.

In the past, a settlement with one of the major companies has been a pattern followed by others in the industry.