FCL, Unifor return to bargaining table
Union complies with injunction order, allowing vehicles access to refinery
REGINA Wooden pallets once used to reinforce barricades were pushed to the side as gates opened, allowing fuel trucks to roll into Regina’s Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) for the first time in nearly two weeks.
The warmer weather saw a thawing of relations between Unifor and Federated Co-operative Ltd. (FCL) as they sat down to bargain on Friday morning, Day 57 of the lockout.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the first fuel truck rolled through Gate 7, which had been blockaded since Jan. 20, a day that saw Unifor national president Jerry Dias and 13 others arrested.
The road to the bargaining table was fraught with tension, as the FCL brought in replacement workers and the union skirted a court order.
According to statements from Unifor and FCL, the two finally met because the union agreed to comply with Justice Janet Mcmurtry’s injunction order, allowing all vehicles entry and exit from the CRC.
This includes all CRC gates, the refinery business office and Mcdonald Street terminal.
The injunction, imposed in late December, limits how long pickets can delay vehicles. But in mid-january the union erected rows of fences, reinforcing them with vehicles and most recently wooden pallets, preventing any travel into the refinery.
Negotiations originally broke down over pensions, which culminated in the Dec. 5 lockout of the workers from Local 594 after they gave strike notice. Specifically, the union asked that the current defined benefit pensions not be touched, and that in future bargaining they not be subject to change.
Unifor said this week that precondition came off the table. Then, in turn, FCL said the barricades had to come down for bargaining to resume.
Paul Woit, a master operator in processing, was among the pickets speaking with truck drivers rolling into the refinery. Most drivers said they would like to proceed, negating the 10 minutes union members have under the injunction order to explain to the drivers why they’re locked out.
“It took drastic action to get them back to the table, and I mean we’re back to where we were 56 days ago,” said Woit. “Why didn’t you go back to the table then?”
Woit said he’s having trouble keeping track of all the new people he’s met on the line, saying the support from across Canada and the world has been overwhelming.
“They made it a national issue,” he said. “If Co-op wants a deal we’ll get a deal, but if they want to drag their heels our guys will pick up on that,” said Woit, referencing the bargaining team from Local 594.
“I just want to get a deal, I want to be back at work as soon as possible,” he added. On Friday Woit said he was “cautiously optimistic” that negotiations would go well and that a deal would be reached. But if things take a turn, he said the pickets are willing to rebuild the barricades and draw this fight out longer.
Jeff Beatty was driving one of the many trucks heading to the CRC on Friday. Waiting behind other fuel tankers, Beatty was watching the Joe Rogan podcast on his cellphone as he waited to drive in and pick up fuel. Beatty has been driving trucks for 40 years, and said he has never witnessed a picket line like this.
“They need some kind of power to bargain with,” said Beatty, though he doesn’t sympathize too much with locked-out workers. “I don’t think their complaints are exactly legitimate.”
But much like Woit, he just wants things to get back to normal.
“Oh I sure hope they get it straightened out,” said Beatty. “Back to normal.”