Amid labour dispute, Unifor blocks access to Weyburn Co-op properties

Unifor is once again escalating its attempts to put pressure on Federated Co-operatives Limited in its ongoing labour dispute at the company’s Regina oil refinery.

Members of the union are barricading Co-op properties in Weyburn, located at highways 39 and 13, on Monday.

Those include the Co-op Gas Bar, the company’s CardLock and a neighbouring restaurant called Main Track Cafe.

Unifor’s lead negotiator, Scott Doherty, says retailers are part of Co-op ownership and have a role to play in getting negotiations back on track.

“The reason we’re doing this is to say, ‘Step up and talk to your board of directors and talk to your people that run your Co-op and get them back to the bargaining table,’ ” Doherty said.

“There’s no reason for us to be inconvenienced. There’s no reason for this to happen across the country.”

Doherty acknowledged the barricades have the cafe caught in the middle. But he said that union members might be able to help out by eating there and thus possibly offsetting business losses.

“We’re going to go and reach out to them. And hopefully they’ll be feeding our 100 or so people that are there that need to get fed,” he said.

As of Monday, the barricades in Weyburn are the only ones that have been set up, Doherty confirmed. They’ll remain up until 6 p.m.

The union started the tactic on Friday, when it put up fences and parked vehicles at a cardlock and refinery office building in Regina.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Joseph Ho