Regina refinery workers facing temporary layoffs after lengthy lockout

REGINA Even though the nearly seven-month-long labour dispute at Regina’s Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) has concluded, there’s still lots happening at the facility.

The 730 members of Unifor Local 594 and their bargaining committee ratified an agreement last week, which included a number of concessions, such as provisions around pensions — the catalyst for the lockout and the protracted dispute. Now there’s another hitch; the CRC issued 100 temporary layoff notices to returning workers back in April during the lockout.

Brad Delorey, spokesperson for the CRC, said the layoffs are in response to the global downturn in oil production and demand brought about in part due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

“We’ve had a drastic turndown in our production as well as the drop in use with travel restrictions,” Delorey said. Workers are expected to start returning following in-person meetings and training scheduled to start Thursday.

At the CRC, production was curbed by 30,000 barrels a day in April. Before the downturn, it was producing on average 110,000 to 120,000 barrels per day.

Delorey said that downturn is expected to continue, but if demand changes the CRC is ready to restart full production or cut it further.

The pandemic also led the CRC to defer its 2020 shutdown until 2021, though Delorey said some maintenance will occur on Wednesday.

Also following the oil leak at the CRC on May 22, the Water Security Agency (WSA) confirmed that about 60,000 litres of contaminated oily water was captured in lagoons.

In an emailed statement, the WSA said “most of the hydrocarbons were isolated in the lagoons at the city’s sewage treatment facility.”

Mayor Michael Fougere said the city was notified of the leak soon after it occurred on May 22. But he had some concerns around the lack of alerts issued to the public.

“When there’s a spill at any location, notification should be given,” Fougere said.

The city had previously said it would be keeping tabs on how much money has been spent on the abatement process as it would be seeking compensation. Fougere said that city administrators are still tabulating the tally as the process is ongoing.

How much oil was in the 60,000-litre spill is still not known. What’s known is that quantity was contaminated and contained.

Fougere said the city had not heard directly from the refinery about how much oil was spilled but expects to hear from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment following an investigation into the leak.

Though the WSA and the Ministry of Environment were notified of the spill, the mayor added he did have some concerns around the reporting process.

“The public has a right to know this as soon as possible in the city, and people living downstream need to know too,” he said.

Of the water used at the refinery, several million litres a day flows from the CRC to lagoons at the Regina Water Treatment Plant. In 2016 Federated Cooperative Ltd. (FCL) announced it had invested $200 million in an “environmental mega project called the Wastewater Improvement Project (WIP).”

The stated goal of the WIP is to “clean and recycle all of (the) waste water” used at the refinery, FCL said in 2016.

Speaking earlier this month, Hilts said the waste water flowing from the refinery “always contains some oil.”