The United Steelworkers, representing 30,000 oil workers in contract negotiations, plans to talk this week with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, bargaining on behalf of oil companies amid the biggest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years. Shell and the union, with members at more than 200 U.S. refineries, fuel terminals, pipelines and chemical plants, agreed Friday to be in contact this week after reviewing proposals, USW International President Leo Gerard said at a conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. The stalled negotiations are prolonging a walkout that began Feb. 1 at seven refineries, expanded to nine a week later and added three more, including the nation’s biggest complex, over the weekend. Together, the plants account for almost 20 percent of the country’s refining capacity. It’s the first national walkout of U.S. oil workers since 1980, when a work stoppage lasted three months. A further expansion of the strike will […]