Co-op, Unifor reach tentative agreement after 196 day lockout

It appears the lengthy, bitter dispute between Unifor 594 and the Co-op Refinery has come to an end.

The Co-op Refinery Complex announced that a tentative deal has been reached with Unifor 594 in a news release Thursday morning.

In the release, Co-op said the deal includes monetary aspects of its final offer along with a Return-to-Work agreement.

“This deal, if accepted by bargaining unit employees, along with the operational efficiencies our team has recently realized, will go a long way towards ensuring a sustainable CRC for generations to come,” said Gil Le Dressay, vice-president of refinery operations, in the release. “The labour disruption has been a difficult process for everyone involved, but we are hopeful that the membership will ratify the deal, and our employees will return to work soon. We want to thank our community for their patience and support throughout this process.”

Members of the union have been locked out since Dec. 5, 2019, with pensions a major point of contention between the two parties.

Regarding the agreement, Co-op said in the release, “This result is an offer that balances an appreciation for our unionized employees with the fiscal realities of the refining sector.”Unifor members will now need to vote to ratify the agreement.

Neither side is willing to reveal details of the deal before the ratification vote. However, Brad DeLorey, the refinery’s public affairs director, did confirm it’s a deal they proposed some time ago.

“It is the offer we really stood behind from day one of this (bargaining) process,” he told 980 CJME.

While it isn’t yet confirmed, both DeLorey and Unifor 594 President Kevin Bittman are optimistic the union members will vote in favour of the deal.

“We’re very hopeful and very optimistic. We have unanimous support from the union bargaining committee to take this to their membership. On both sides, this has been an incredible amount of work… Our management team has done an incredible job running our facility through all of this. Of course, on the other side, we are looking forward to welcoming back the union members. (They) have been our partners for almost 80 years and they’re important to our organization. We look forward to having them back,” DeLorey said.

“We’ve been saying all along: we’re ready to work. We offered all the concessions the company asked for, and we still weren’t back to work. We were saying we needed a proper return to work, protect the people and expedite the process. The company gave us that (Wednesday) night, so I recommend the acceptance of the deal,” Bittman said.