Locked-Out Workers Continue to
Stand Strong
Unjust Lockout of Regina Co-op Refinery Workers Enters Sixth Month
Locked-out Co-op workers hold car rally outside
Saskatchewan legislature, May, 7, 2020.
Unifor Local 594 members employed by Federated
Co-operatives Limited (FCL) have been locked out
since December 5,
2019. The 730 workers were locked out after they
voted to reject the
company's offer in negotiations and served
48-hour strike notice. The
company had been preparing to take this action
for months and had built
a work
camp for scabs that were immediately brought in
from outside
the province. Production has been continuing
with scabs and managers,
cut back mid-April due to decreased demand in
the conditions of the
pandemic.
From the outset the company has relied on the
state and
police in one attempt after another to diminish
the effects of the
union's picketing, starting with an injunction
in December to limit
pickets, constant harassment, and arrests of
several workers on the
picket lines. Throughout the bitter fight that
the workers have waged
to defend their right
to negotiate acceptable wages and working
conditions in the face of the
ever-increasing demands of the company that they
make concessions on
pensions and other conditions that have been
negotiated in the past,
there has been support from workers in Unifor
locals and many other
unions from across the country.
On March 5 the union filed two unfair
labour practice applications with the
Saskatchewan Labour Board, Unfair
Labour Practice -- Industrial Espionage and
Unfair Labour Practice --
Surface Bargaining. In the applications the
union describes various
company actions including following workers to
their homes,
withholding money owed to them and, with regard
to bargaining,
merely going through the motions ("surface
bargaining") with no actual
effort to negotiate a collective agreement. In
the course of discussion
with the union after the lockout the company has
repeatedly brought
back concessionary demands that had already been
dropped in response to
the union's dropping of their proposals. Neither
case has yet
been heard.
The union requested government intervention and
the
appointment of a mediator who could issue a
report that would be
binding and put an end to the dispute. In
February mediators Vince
Ready and Amanda Rogers were appointed.
Following 20 days of discussion
with the company and the union, the mediators
issued their
non-binding report on March 19. Their proposed
resolution included
changes to the pension plan that would have
resulted in millions of
dollars being paid into the pension plan from
workers' wages. Despite
the fact that the mediators' report heavily
favoured the company, the
workers, within days, voted 98 per cent in
favour of it as a means to end the
lockout and get back to work.
The company immediately rejected the report and
demanded
further concessions. Local 594 President Kevin
Bittman reiterated the
union's position that it was too late for that,
that "[t]he mediators'
report was the process that workers and the
company agreed to, we
ratified it, and it's what Scott Moe needs to
enforce."
The union has continued to demand that the
Saskatchewan Moe government make the mediators'
recommendations binding and force the
company to end the lockout.
On April 28, Unifor Local 594 members voted 89
per cent
against the "best and final offer" that the
company has tried to impose
since rejecting the mediators' report. A Unifor
press release of April
29 quotes Local 594 President Kevin Bittman:
"The premier hired the
most experienced mediators in the country. The
premier should take the
next logical step and implement the mediators'
recommendations." The
workers are continuing to inform and mobilize.
On May 7 more than 300 vehicles rallied at the
Saskatchewan legislative building in support of
the locked-out workers,
including members of local 594 and their
families and supporters. The
vehicles circled the legislature, honking horns
and waving flags and
banners and signs. The same day, prevented from
meaningful picketing at
the CCRL
site in Regina, members of Local 594 set up a
picket line at the Co-op
Bulk Fuel site in Moose Jaw, a location that is
not covered by the
court order restricting picketing at the
refinery. RCMP presence to
harass was immediate and the following day, May
8, the RCMP threatened
to lay charges of mischief if picketers
obstructed people entering or
leaving the site.
 Saskatchewan
labour lawyer Ronni Nordal described the
situation this way: "It
appears that as of May 8, 2020 the CCRL
(Consumers Co-operative
Refinery Limited) can continue its operation
with its replacement
worker onsite camp while it has been declared
illegal for Unifor Local
594 members to exercise any meaningful right
to picket. The right to picket in Saskatchewan
has been reduced to
standing on the side of the road and waving to
passersby, unless a
driver voluntarily elects to stop and talk to
the locked-out workers.
The cycle is complete, the law protects the
right of the employer to
set up a work camp to house replacement workers
during a pandemic while
using its full force to ensure picketing has no
effect on the
employer's operations."[1]
The locked-out members of Unifor Local 594 are
working
full out to mobilize public opinion in support
of their just demands,
calling for a continuation of the boycott of
Co-op, for messages of support to be sent
to their facebook
page and other actions.
No to Anti-Worker Concessions!
All Out to Support the FCL Regina
Refinery Workers!
This article was published in
Number 35 - May 19, 2020
Article Link:
Locked-Out Workers Continue to
Stand Strong : Unjust Lockout of Regina Co-op Refinery Workers Enters Sixth Month
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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