Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) top brass met with Unifor recently to discuss the labour disruption at the Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC).
The meeting, held at Unifor’s request, was an opportunity “to have an open discussion and listen to Unifor’s perspective to see if there were grounds to resume bargaining.”
FCL received a counter-proposal from Unifor this week, the first it has issued since they declared an impasse on Sept. 26, 2019. FCL stated that it would review the proposal, despite, Unifor continuing to block all vehicles from entering or exiting our property despite a court injunction order.
“We stated clearly our willingness to engage in meaningful conversations at the bargaining table, but reiterated our position that the rule of law must be followed. This is defined by two Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench orders and a subsequent ruling by Justice Keene that Unifor is in contempt of those orders,” said Heather Ryan, Vice-President of Human Resources. “Unifor has ignored an interim court injunction order, a final court injunction order and a contempt of court ruling. We agree with Justice Keene’s ruling, which found Unifor ‘intentionally and deliberately disobeyed the order.'”
Justice Keene acknowledged the intent of the original orders were “intended to bring some level of stability to a tense labour dispute.” However, Unifor has continued to escalate their illegal tactics, which certainly doesn’t provide the environment for productive bargaining.
Unifor has reinforced their barricades with hundreds of wood pallets. The illegal barricades have been increasing in size since they were first put in place on Jan. 20.
Another barricade has been put up around the fuel terminal in Carseland, Alta., on Jan. 25.
“To be clear, this is not peaceful, lawful picketing. This is Unifor using aggressive and illegal blockades and ignoring court injunction orders,” said Ryan. “If they were to follow the law and these rulings, we’d be back at the bargaining table within hours.”
Print this page
