(Jessie Anton/980 CJME)

By CJME News

Unifor members ratify refinery deal

Jun 22, 2020 | 6:18 PM

It took 196 days locked out and the vote of 730 workers but finally the deal is done.

Unifor Local 594 members have ratified a tentative agreement with the Co-op refinery.

In a news release, the union writes that the new collective agreement maintains the defined benefit pension plan and the company-matched employee savings plan for existing workers.

Unifor Local 594 president Kevin Bittman says membership voted 89 per cent in favour of the deal.

“They finally gave us an offer we could take to membership and recommend and we’ll be going back to work next week,” Bittman said.

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Bittman said Unifor offered to give the company every concession it asked for but a deal still wasn’t reached.

“What we were looking for was a return to work that didn’t give them the ability to fire people. (Co-op officials) said they didn’t want to fire people but we’ll wait and see what happens. Any firings will get dealt with by the end of the year and we’ll see how many we have to deal with,” Bittman said.

“There (were) reports that they wanted to fire a bunch of people and we were not going to go into that plant with them being able to fire people.”

Bittman said the return-to-work plan is supposed to make for a peaceful transition back into the plant.

“The company didn’t want to go there, (which) only told us one thing— that they really did want to fire people and they wanted people to wait four years as it went through the arbitration process,” he explained. “It wasn’t going to be accepted by us.”

If someone was fired from their job, the arbitration process would be completed by the end of the year, Bittman explained. He added these firings would be different from downsizing the workforce.

“The company said they wanted to discipline a whole bunch of people from activities on the picket line,” Bittman said. “If the company tries to unlawfully fire people, we’ll find out by the end of the year, through an arbitration process, that they unlawfully fired people.”

In a statement released shortly after the union’s release, the Co-op Refinery Complex stated the deal strikes a much-needed balance between the company’s appreciation for its unionized employees and the fiscal realities of the refining sector.

Pensions were at the forefront of negotiations and what contribution should or shouldn’t be made by the employer was a major sticking point between the two sides.

“This deal is about competitiveness within the refining industry and long-term sustainability. It’s about ensuring that we continue to be an economic engine and that we provide good jobs for this city and this province for generations to come,” said Gil Le Dressay, the vice-president of refinery operations.

“Our industry is changing and we have only begun to see how new regulatory requirements and external pressures are going to shape our industry’s future. We all need to recognize that these changes are imminent. We are better off facing that future as partners as we work together to achieve our collective goals and interests.”

In the final offer, Bittman said the union gave into every concession the Co-op Refinery Complex had when it came to pensions.

“The members are going to be $20,000 less in their pockets and on top of that, they’re going to lose on their pensions. Even when we agreed to all that, that still wasn’t enough for the company, they still wanted more. This was union-busting at its finest,” Bittman said.

“They never had any intention of giving us a deal at this point and we’re just lucky we came out with our heads held high and we’re going to go back there and try to build a relationship and see where we get.”

Unifor national president Jerry Dias was quick to state he felt the lockout could have ended sooner if the provincial government had stepped in.

“Our members and their bargaining committee held firm throughout a difficult, protracted and often bitter negotiation process,” Dias said. “In the end we were successful in protecting their retirement security and in achieving the national wage pattern but this result could have been reached far earlier if the mediator recommendations had been enforced by Premier Scott Moe.”

The lockout saw picket lines open up not just in front of the refinery, but Co-op gas bars and farmer fuelling stations.

“We want to take this opportunity to thank our community and our truckers for their continued support throughout the labour disruption. Through it all, you continued to support us and Co-op, and we sincerely thank you,” Le Dressay said.

“Finally, I want to thank our dedicated management team for leading us through these trying times. This team’s commitment to operating the Refinery safely and efficiently, and to supplying fuel to Western Canadians, cannot be understated. They are a tremendous team, and we thank them all for their commitment to our company and to ensuring our long-term success.”