Unifor barricades Co-op facilities as part of escalation

Unifor claimed Friday that it had turned the tables on Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL).

The union put up blockades — mostly comprising parked vehicles or fencing — at the Co-op Refinery Complex in north Regina, around a Co-op cardlock fuel station at Fleet Street and Turvey Road, at diesel distribution and propane facilities, and at a refinery office building in Regina.

According to a refinery spokesperson, there were 10 to 12 blockades at various sites before some were removed.

“Today we blocked them in and locked them out of their head office … to show them how it feels to be locked out of their own workplace,” said Unifor Local 594 president Kevin Bittman, whose local represents more than 700 employees at the refinery.

Unifor members picketing outside a Co-op office building and cardlock fenced off at Fleet Street and Turvey Road on Jan. 10, 2020. (Andrew Shepherd/980 CJME)

Members of the union have been engaged in a labour dispute with the Co-op refinery since being locked out in early December. The main issue in the dispute is pensions.

On Tuesday, the union vowed to increase the pressure on the company. On Thursday night, Bittman said, the idea for the blockades came up.

Going to locations beyond the refinery was part of a strategy to take the dispute further into the Co-op realm.

“FCL is spending the money to set up the (work) camp and fly in the choppers,” said Bittman, referring to the refinery’s use of helicopters to transfer personnel and material over the picket lines.

“They’re the ones that have locked us out. They’re the ones that are funding this lockout. They’re not innocent in this so we’re going to take it to anybody that’s funding our lockout.”

As he later told a media conference, the union believes FCL, the Co-op retailers and the Co-op Refinery Complex are all fair game.

“It’s pretty evident that we’re fighting a billion-dollar employer that’s willing to challenge their whole system and put their whole system on the target,” Bittman said. “They’re willing to spend a billion dollars to try and break us as a union and we’re not just going to just sit back and let that happen.

“We’re telling Federated and the retailers and our employer, CRC, that it’s time to get back to the table and offer a fair deal.”

In a media release, the refinery said Friday’s actions “put public safety at risk” due to the amount of fuel at the facilities and because emergency access could be compromised.

“Any type of emergency, we need to be able to respond,” Brad DeLorey, the refinery’s director of communications and public affairs, told Gormley.

“We need to be able to have 24(-hour) access, 365 days a year. Whether it’s a medical emergency (or an) emergency on site, we have to have access to these types of facilities. It’s absolutely a threat to public safety and to the people working there.”

Bittman said the union has “never stood in the way of safety” and noted picketers would move aside if emergency vehicles need to get into or out of the refinery.

DeLorey said the company is looking at all of its legal options, meaning it could go to court to seek relief from the situation.

Meanwhile, people like Alex McKinnon have to wait to see what happens next.

On Friday, McKinnon had his truck parked on the side of Turvey Road before dawn. The long-haul driver carries contaminated soils into and out of the city.

Alex McKinnon is a long-haul truck driver. At 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2020, he arrived at the Co-op Cardlock on Fleet Street and Turvey Road to find it had been barricaded. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

He spent the morning messaging those he knew who also would be using the fuel station.

“I’ve got friends and relatives that drive school buses in town,” he said. “How are they going to fuel? How are city people going to get fuel for your ambulances, your police cars (and) emergency vehicles?”

A recent court injunction limits picketers at the refinery, allowing them to hold up traffic for a maximum of 10 minutes per vehicle to provide information or until truckers say they wish to proceed.

But at the cardlock, McKinnon said nobody was willing to listen to what he wanted to say.

“They did not talk to me whatsoever. I asked for a supervisor and they just said, ‘Sorry, I can’t talk to you,'” he said.

McKinnon was running late to a bridge repair site outside Regina and was worried about getting in trouble at work.

“If I wind up losing my job over this or other jobs that I do because these guys aren’t playing the rules, somebody’s got to pay me for my downtime and find me another job and it’s going to be Unifor,” he said.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Joseph Ho and Andrew Shepherd