FCL willing to resume bargaining when Unifor follows the law

SASKATOON, Jan. 29, 2020 /CNW/ - Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) CEO Scott Banda, Vice-President of Human Resources Heather Ryan and Vice-President of Strategy Pam Skotnitsky  met with Unifor National President Jerry Dias and other Unifor representatives Monday Jan. 27, 2020, to discuss the labour disruption at the Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC).

The meeting, held at Unifor's request, was an opportunity to have an open discussion and listen to Unifor's perspective to see if there were grounds to resume bargaining. To be clear, this was not a formal bargaining session.

FCL received a counter-proposal from Unifor this morning, the first it has issued since they declared an impasse on Sept. 26, 2019. We'll review the proposal, however, Unifor continues to block all vehicles from entering or exiting our property despite a court injunction order.

"We stated clearly our willingness to engage in meaningful conversations at the bargaining table, but reiterated our position that the rule of law must be followed. This is defined by two Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench orders and a subsequent ruling by Justice Keene that Unifor is in contempt of those orders," said Heather Ryan, Vice-President  of Human Resources.

"Unifor has ignored an interim court injunction order, a final court injunction order and a contempt of court ruling. We agree with Justice Keene's ruling, which found Unifor 'intentionally and deliberately disobeyed the order.'"

Justice Keene acknowledged the intent of the original orders were "intended to bring some level of stability to a tense labour dispute." However, Unifor has continued to escalate their illegal tactics, which certainly doesn't provide the environment for productive bargaining.

Unifor reinforced their barricades Tuesday evening with hundreds of wood pallets. The illegal barricades have been increasing in size since they were first put in place on Jan. 20. Not only that, but they erected a barricade around our fuel terminal in Carseland, Alta., on Jan. 25.

"To be clear, this is not peaceful, lawful picketing. This is Unifor using aggressive and illegal blockades and ignoring court injunction orders," said Ryan. "If they were to follow the law and these rulings, we'd be back at the bargaining table within hours."

More information on the labour disruption is available at refineryfacts.ca. 

About Federated Co-operatives Limited and the Co-operative Retailing System
Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), based in Saskatoon, is the 54th largest company in Canada and the largest non-financial co-operative in Canada. FCL is a unique multi-billion dollar wholesaling, manufacturing, marketing and administrative co-operative owned by more than 170 autonomous retail co-operatives across Western Canada. Together FCL and those local retail co-operatives form the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS). The CRS serves our members and communities with products and services that help build, feed and fuel individuals and communities from Vancouver Island to northwestern Ontario. Our total workforce of 25,000 employees serve 1.9 million active individual members and many more non-member customers at 1,500 retail locations in more than 580 communities. We are a different kind of business ? we are locally invested, community-minded and offer lifetime membership benefits including patronage refunds, quality products, quality service and fair prices. More information is available at www.fcl.crs. 

SOURCE Federated Co-operatives Limited