Unifor Local 594 members from the Regina Co-op Refinery Complex returned to Moose Jaw to protest being locked out, this time picketing in front of a Co-op gas station.
Thirty members from the union carried placards and banners as they walked in front of the Co-op gas station at the corner of Thatcher Drive East and Ninth Avenue Northeast on March 11. The members arrived on scene around 9:40 a.m. and were expected to be there for the entire day. One union member thought more people workers were expected to show up the next day.
“(Just) trying to make people know what’s going on here,” the worker added, before deferring all other comments to Unifor’s executive team.
Unifor and Federated Co-op are waiting for a special mediator’s report to be presented to the provincial government, after the 20-day government-mandated mediation window ended on March 10. The province expects the report to suggest ways for each side to settle and is expected to take about five days to complete.
The review will likely be made public.
Kevin Bittman, president of Unifor Local 594, explained by phone that the union protested in Moose Jaw because the community is a retailer of Federated Co-operative Limited and is funding the lockout. The union thought it was important for residents to know the lockout will hurt the whole system, while it’s also important for Co-op to return to the bargaining table and accept the mediator’s recommendations when the report comes out.
Mediation went well considering the provincial government hired the best mediator in the country to resolve this issue, Bittmann continued. Both parties are now waiting for the results.
“We’re anxiously waiting (to see what) he thinks the fair deal will be and we’re hoping we can get back to work,” he stated.
Besides Moose Jaw, the union also protested in Southey, Assiniboia, Shellbrook and Moosomin on March 11. On March 12 the union planned to move to five more communities with Co-op businesses.
The union wants the owners of the Co-ops — the members, essentially — to know why the refinery workers are still locked out, Bittman continued. The Co-op said it needed pension reform and to ensure it had sustainability; the union offered to make those concessions.
“And now we’re still locked out and we’re still wondering why we’re locked out,” he added. “It’s upon the owners of the Co-op to say to Federated, ‘So why are these guys still locked out if they’re starting to work towards a deal?’
“They’ve always said they want us to pay into our pension and we’ve committed to paying into our pension and we still don’t have a deal.”
