Regina police clear up area around Co-op refinery

Co-op fuel trucks were moving along Ninth Avenue North toward the refinery on Friday, but Unifor picketers weren’t.

Regina Police Service (RPS) officers closed the road between McDonald and Winnipeg streets on Thursday at 11 p.m. During the day Friday, the police allowed fuel trucks to enter and leave the refinery, but picketers were told to go to another gate.

Regina Police officers are allowing a line of Co-op fuel trucks into the Refinery through 9th Ave North. But Unifor members trying to access the same area on foot are being told to go to Gate 7 where barricades still remain on Fleet St. pic.twitter.com/0yCflM0cAX

— Adriana Christianson (@AdrianaC_JME) February 7, 2020

Unifor members on the picket line declined to comment, but Unifor national president Jerry Dias said later in the day the RPS had turned Regina into “a police state.”

“The police are clearly the security for the corporation,” Dias said during a media conference in Victoria Park. “They’re opening up the picket lines (and) moving the trucks through and workers are watching. So what are workers supposed to do?”

In a media release, police said they were “overseeing the process of clearing structures and debris from City of Regina property adjacent to the Co-op Refinery Complex on Ninth Avenue North, between McDonald and Winnipeg streets.”

Scott Doherty, Dias’ executive assistant, said the police moved into the area late Thursday night to close the stretch of road.

“(Officers) then proceeded to instruct the Co-op security guards to take down the fences that were erected,” Doherty said Friday morning.

“I believe all of the barricades, the fences, have been removed from everywhere except for Gate 7 at this point in time. Until this morning, that was all that was happening. They weren’t allowing any vehicles in and out (of Ninth Avenue North).”

Unifor erected barricades around the refinery on Jan. 20 as part of an escalation of its labour dispute with the refinery. The company locked out unionized employees on Dec. 5.

The barricades have kept fuel trucks and other vehicles from getting into or out of the refinery.

When it was pointed out to Dias that the police wouldn’t have had to act Friday if Unifor had taken down barricades that have been referred to as illegal, he bristled.

“Who’s saying we’re breaking the law?” said Dias, who noted that bringing in replacement workers at the refinery and letting them take wages to their home provinces is more egregious of an act.

Regina police officers speak with people outside of Regina’s Co-op refinery complex on Feb. 7, 2020, as they block traffic onto Ninth Avenue North. (Adriana Christianson/980 CJME)

The police said their actions Friday were “part of a plan to restore a safe physical environment which will support peaceful, lawful and safe picketing by members of Unifor Canada, Local 594 and their supporters.”

The clean-up was aimed to make the area safe for vehicle and pedestrian traffic, the police release said, and also to “remove materials which could potentially be used to create an illegal barrier.”

“When the area is cleared of structures and debris, and made safe, picketers will be permitted to walk freely in the area with signage and other informational materials,” the police said. “Vehicles not related to the operation of the businesses in the area will not be permitted.”

The police have been ticketing some vehicles and towing others away from the site in recent days.

Doherty, who isn’t allowed near the refinery due to the mischief charge that has been laid against him, said he was told fuel trucks were being allowed into the refinery. Both the police and the CRC confirmed that fuel trucks were entering and exiting all of the refinery’s properties.

“The Regina Police Service has decided that they needed to work for the Co-op, I guess, and ensure that the trucks could get in and out of the facility before anything was out from the contempt charges that the judge heard (Thursday),” Doherty said.

The parties were in Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday as the CRC reportedly sought heavy penalties against the union and its officials for violating a previous injunction. The justice reserved his decision.

Doherty said that while some of the fences came down at the refinery, the union still had picketers on the line.

“We have people at Gate 7, obviously,” he said. “We moved people from all of the other places simply because the Regina Police Service was doing our jobs anyway; nobody was allowed to get in there …

“We’re obviously going to figure out what our next steps are based on the fact that the Regina Police Service once again has interfered and shown that they’re not indifferent in this. They’ve certainly taken sides once again.”

Doherty said there was “some interaction” between picketers, Unifor security people and police officers Thursday night, but there weren’t any confrontations or arrests.

Dias said police removed everything from the picket lines — from trailers to all sources of heat — and left only workers to walk on the picket line.

He once again called on Premier Scott Moe to give powers to a special mediator that would allow that individual to force binding arbitration on the parties. The government has offered to appoint a special mediator, but repeatedly has said it won’t introduce binding arbitration.

Saying the union was battling the courts, the police and the company, Dias said he didn’t think the employees had any option but to continue the dispute.

“They control the laws, they control the court process (and) they’ve got the police to do the work for them,” Dias said of refinery officials. “Working-class people have to stand and fight and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Asked about Thursday’s incident when truckers were locked inside the refinery by the union, Dias said the drivers could have left at any time.

“It’s not them, it’s the equipment,” he said.

FYI for your #yqrtraffic commute: @reginapolice have blocked off 9th Ave. N from Winnipeg to MacDonald Street; it’s the stretch of road that runs along the Co-op oil refinery. pic.twitter.com/MJBEDLpXpc

— Evan Radford (@EvanRadford) February 7, 2020