Unifor picket lines make their way to Saskatoon

Unifor’s picket lines boycotting Federated Co-operative Limited (FCL) have made their way to Saskatoon.

After Tuesday’s announcement that the union planned to “escalate” actions against the company in connection to the labour dispute at the Co-op refinery in Regina, about 30 members of Unifor made the drive north from Regina to form a picket line in front of the Federated Co-op building in downtown Saskatoon.

“Yesterday at our rally we announced we are going to escalate things, so we loaded up some vans and brought 30 of my members here to hit the streets of Saskatoon to let people know the facts about the situation,” said Kevin Bittman, president of Unifor Local 594.

“Some of the things that you are hearing in the public aren’t true and we wanted to get the facts out there. It’s important to us. We aren’t walking the picket lines in -30 (degrees Celsius) because we are being greedy. We just want what was promised to us three years ago by Federated Co-op.”

According to Bittman, citizens will start seeing more members of Unifor at Co-op businesses in Canada.

“Escalation means all across Western Canada. We are going to see more picket lines at all the gas stations (and) all the grocery stores and you’ll see a lot more in Regina, Saskatoon and all across the country,” he said.

Bittman said the union reached out to Federated Co-op about going back to the bargaining table but hasn’t got a response yet.

After the escalation of Unifor’s actions, Federated Co-op released a statement Wednesday afternoon that said Unifor has refused any negotiations since late September.

The news release also stated Unifor has issued an ultimatum to the company saying the union will not discuss a deal unless the current 100 per cent employer-paid pension plan remains untouched.

“We’re disappointed that Unifor has chosen this route rather than getting back to the bargaining table,” Cameron Zimmer, Federated Co-op’s communications and public relations manager, said in the release.

“This strike won’t end through tactics like the ones we’re seeing today, it’ll be resolved through meaningful negotiations at the bargaining table.”