Unifor picketers block off Co-op bulk station north of Moose Jaw

The Co-op bulk fill-up station on Highway 2 just north of Moose Jaw was blocked off Monday morning by Unifor picketers.

Barricades were set up overnight, and drivers in the area were asked by police to use caution.

The Co-op refinery in Regina locked out unionized employees on Dec. 5 after Unifor issued strike notice. The labour dispute has escalated since then.

That escalation has included Unifor setting up barricades around the refinery and other Co-op properties, including fuel sites in Carseland, Alta., and Winnipeg. Now the union has headed to Moose Jaw.

Karl Dahle, a Unifor member and a pipefitter at the refinery before the lockout, says union members will keep up the barricades on Highway 2 as long as they can.

“Out here, we are dealing with the RCMP,” Dahle said. “The RCMP are really good. If a court injunction comes and specifies that the barricades have to come down, we will do that.”

On Friday, the Regina Police Service shut down Ninth Avenue North between Winnipeg and McDonald streets near the refinery.

The police then oversaw a cleanup of the area around the refinery, with security teams removing fences, wooden pallets and other items that could be used to blockade the facility.

Police reopened the stretch of road to picketers on Sunday.

Also Friday, a justice in Alberta ordered Unifor to remove the barricade around the facility in Carseland. The fences and vehicles used to blockade the property were removed Sunday.

The labour dispute in Regina has featured a contempt of court decision and a $100,000 fine against the union, court appearances seeking injunctions and penalties, and arrests of picketers.

Co-op nixes idea of binding arbitration

In a media release Monday, Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) reiterated its stance that binding arbitration isn’t the solution to the dispute.

Unifor national president Jerry Dias has called on Premier Scott Moe to introduce binding arbitration legislation, but the province has said it can’t order that. Instead, Moe has offered to appoint a special mediator to help the parties settle the dispute.

“Our organization has to live with the legacy of any deal reached long after Mr. Dias and Unifor’s other executives have left our province,” Scott Banda, FCL’s CEO, said in the release.

“Setting arbitrary deadlines and repeating requests for binding arbitration that have already been declined by both FCL and the provincial government are not going to get us any closer to a deal that keeps the refinery sustainable. We need to have real discussions on complex issues and we need to have them without the threat of illegal blockades.”

FCL has said it will return to the bargaining table as soon as Unifor follows the injunctions in Saskatchewan and Alberta and removes its barricades.