Unifor wants help from the provincial government to get back to the table

Unifor’s national president is calling for Saskatchewan’s premier to step in and get the Co-op refinery back to the bargaining table.

“This is a time for leadership, Premier (Scott) Moe,” Jerry Dias said Thursday morning. “Because if you’re the premier, and the nastiest dispute, most violent dispute in decades is unfolding, and the potential is there for it to even get more violent, then you have a responsibility to not only talk about the parties getting together, but to use your position as premier of the province of Saskatchewan to make that happen.”

In November, the union and refinery entered talks with a mediator but those talks ended early with an impasse. The two sides went into a mandatory cooling-off period, after which strike and lockout notices were issued.

The refinery locked out the employees on Dec. 5.

Scott Doherty, Dias’ executive assistant, explained that the mediator booked himself out after the parties reached an impasse. Doherty said he has talked a couple times to the mediator they’d had but that person doesn’t have a way of getting the parties to resume negotiations.

Doherty said the union wants the provincial government to get someone into the dispute who has bargaining experience and who can help get the two sides back to the table and help resolve some of the more difficult issues.

He said the premier or Minister of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Don Morgan could help facilitate the two sides getting back to the table.

Doherty said the premier declined to meet with the union; an email tweeted out by the union said the premier “is not available to meet.” As of Thursday afternoon, Doherty said he hadn’t heard back from Morgan’s office.

Morgan’s office sent out a statement shortly after Unifor’s request went out.

“A provincially appointed mediator is already in place and has been engaging with both parties regularly throughout the lockout period. We continue to encourage both parties to return to the bargaining table where the provincially appointed mediator can assist parties in negotiating an agreement,” Morgan said in the statement.

On Tuesday, Moe sent a letter in response to concerns raised by Opposition Leader Ryan Meili, saying his government has been encouraging both sides to resume talks.