Savage said that only at 11:55 a.m., about an hour after the company "made a big move in our direction," did union bargainers request a one-day extension.
He said some refinery supervisors mistakenly jumped the gun, taking over the controls at processing units in Philadelphia that the company planned to continue operating if the union walked out.
"We had people who were at work Sunday who were already relieved from their job. They were holding picket signs - they thought they were on strike," he said. "It was the closest I've ever been."
Savage and Sunoco spokesman Thomas Golembeski said yesterday that both sides had the economy on their minds.
"We said all along that we wanted to avoid a strike," Golembeski said. "In this kind of economic climate, with so many people out of work and with people struggling already, it wasn't going to benefit anyone."
Savage called the economy "the big axe hanging over our heads" during six weeks of talks.
"To call a strike and put 700 of our families on the street at this time would have been a major decision," he said. "It weighed heavily on our minds. It was probably the most difficult decision we'd ever faced in our lives."
Savage and Golembeski declined to discuss details of the contracts. Both locals are expected to vote next week.
Tim Kolodi, Savage's counterpart at Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery, said the key break came when the company offered to follow a national pattern settlement reached in January between the Steelworkers and Shell Oil Co.
Kolodi said that deal, which calls for 3 percent annual raises, preserved current benefit levels and barred involuntary layoffs. The union leaders had been fighting a Sunoco proposal to cut the number of operators on refinery processing units 25 percent.
Savage said the ultimate compromise would allow some of the cutbacks the company sought, but only through attrition.
"They did combine some jobs, but they did it in a way that makes sense to us," Savage said. "The compromises we made are reasonable and won't compromise our health and safety. The worst of it - things we couldn't live with - aren't there anymore."
To Sunoco, financial concerns go well beyond labor issues at its five refineries, which include the nonunion Eagle Point refinery in Westville and facilities in Ohio and Oklahoma.
Last year's historic peaks in crude-oil prices, followed by the swift deterioration in the economy and the accompanying drop in fuel prices, have left oil companies facing extraordinary uncertainty, said Brian Milne, editor of the trade publications DTN MarketWire and OilSpot.
"Knowing that the workers are going to show up is very helpful. But we're not out of this recession yet," Milne said. "Refiners are going to have to keep their operating rates in check until we see a recovery."
Contact staff writer Jeff Gelles at 215-854-2776 or jgelles@phillynews.com.
