Unifor president arrested on picket line at refinery

Things got a lot more heated on the picket line at the Co-op refinery Monday night as police arrested several people, including Unifor national president Jerry Dias.

On Monday morning, Unifor announced it would be blockading the entrances to the refinery — not allowing anyone in, including trucks to pick up fuel.

Late Monday afternoon, police officers showed up at Gate 7 along Fleet Street to tell picketers to move the vehicles blocking the entrance. Police said they would give the picketers a reasonable amount of time to move, but they didn’t move the vehicle.

“The police have a job to do, they’re trying to gain access to the facilities and we’re not allowing them. And ultimately, we are being every bit as straightforward as they are. They have a job to do, we have a job to do … and the bottom line is we are not going to surrender our picket line so that they can move scabs, move the management and move the trucks in the facilities,” said Dias.

Dias said he was talking to police and telling them not to escalate the issues, though he couldn’t say what escalating things on the police’s part might look like.

About an hour later the officers returned with tow trucks, which is when things escalated — picketers physically blocked the tow truck from taking a U-Haul truck away and six people, including Dias, were arrested.

Dias spoke from the back of the police van: “If they’re going to arrest all of us, then they’re going to have to bring a hell of a lot more paddy wagons.”

Before being arrested, Dias also called for Unifor members from locals across the province to come to the picket lines at the refinery. The union had brought in about 500 members from across the country on Sunday night, and he said union officials expect another 200 to 250 to arrive for Tuesday morning.

After Dias was arrested, the national secretary-treasurer for Unifor spoke to media.

“I want to express … the outrage on behalf of our union, 315,000 members, that they would dare arrest our national president here,” said Lana Payne.

Payne said it shows there’s something wrong in Regina and Saskatchewan when police would think it’s OK to arrest Dias like that. She said she doesn’t believe he was breaking the law and repeated Dias’ reasoning from earlier in the day — that a court injunction was ordered against Unifor Local 594, not the national union.

“I want to be really clear here tonight, as clear as I possibly can be. We are holding this line, we are not going anywhere,” said Payne.

The refinery locked out unionized employees on Dec. 5 after the sides couldn’t reach a new collective bargaining agreement. Pensions are the main sticking point in the negotiations.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mischief charges against Dias and 12 other individuals were stayed Sept. 1, 2021, as part of a joint resolution after members of the group completed alternative measures.