More than 500 workers have gone on strike at a Chevron refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area after calling for a salary increase as inflation levels continue to soar across the country. Employees at the energy company also cited concerns over safety and long working hours. The strike, which began on March 21, came after members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 5 voted down Chevron’s most recent contract offer and the company declined to return to the bargaining table. A previous contract between Chevron and USW Local 5 expired on Feb. 1, and since then, members of the union have been working on a rolling 24-hour extension. Chevron said in a statement on March 20 that, after negotiating with the union for months, it believes the contract offer was fair and addressed the concerns raised by the union. The union said it had negotiated a national agreement for oil workers on wages and …