No more work for 100 Sunoco workers at Marcus Hook

Sunocos Marcus Hook refinery is closing. The plastics plant next door depends on it for raw materials. (Michael S. Wirtz / Staff Photographer)
Sunocos Marcus Hook refinery is closing. The plastics plant next door depends on it for raw materials. (Michael S. Wirtz / Staff Photographer)
By Michael Hinkelman, Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: February 15, 2012

More than 100 workers at Sunoco's idled refinery in Marcus Hook have been told not to report to work next week, the company said.

The workers have not been laid off and will be paid through the end of the month, said Sunoco spokesman Thomas Golembeski.

He said the workers were told not to come to work beginning Monday because there was nothing for them to do.

Sunoco idled the Marcus Hook refinery Dec. 1 and is winding down operations at the refinery. It's unclear how long that process will take, and about 200 hourly workers remain.

Workers told not to report can use the time off to go to outplacement workshops and a job fair at the Marcus Hook Community Center the company has organized, Golembeski said.

Meantime, Sunoco is negotiating a severance package with unions representing hourly workers there.

Sunoco said in September that it would jettison the last of its refineries in Marcus Hook and South Philadelphia as it exited the refining business.

At that time, it began reaching out to as many as 150 potential buyers for the refineries.

During a meeting with industry analysts Feb. 2, Sunoco said that it had not received a single proposal to purchase Marcus Hook as an operating refinery and that there was some degree of interest in South Philadelphia as an operating refinery.

The company said that it had lost $900 million over the last three years in its refining segment and that the outlook for the future was bleak.

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