Unifor protesters must be at least five metres from entrances to Co-op Cardlock in Carseland..Lawyers for Co-op were in a Calgary court Wednesday seeking an injunction against striking Unifor workers in Carseland, west of Calgary. The judge granted the order Thursday morning..“We are asking Co-ops and other businesses to take a strong stand against Unifor’s illegal actions,” company CEO Scott Banda told a crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Carseland community hall..“They are establishing a dangerous precedent for other negotiations – not just for our labour disruption but all other negotiations. Just think about that for a minute; if an organized group doesn’t like what you’re doing, or disagrees with you, they can simply barricade your business until they get what they want.”.Unifor members set up outside the Carseland Co-op Cardlock in southern Alberta on Jan. 24. The dispute is spilling over from Saskatchewan where Local 594 members have been locked out of the Co-op Refinery in Regina since Dec. 5, 2019..Co-op has now begun to limit the amount of gasoline available to customers to 300 litres a day to try to stop outages in smaller centres..According to social media, members from across the country, as far east as Quebec, have been holding the line at the Carseland industrial site west of the hamlet of less than 600..Carseland is a major hub for gasoline transport. Trucks fill up and haul fuel as far north as Rocky Mountain House and it’s also the start of the return trip back to Regina where trucks deliver fuel along the Trans-Canada Hwy. between Carseland and Regina..RCMP are on site and are currently treating it as a labour dispute, Staff Sgt. Dale Morgan said..“It’s been peaceful to date. It’s important to note that proper exercise of police discretion should not be confused with lack of enforcement,” Morgan said..Enforcement could be coming soon as the Consumers Co-operative Refinery Limited (on behalf of Federated Co-op Limited) received the news that their request for an injunction had been granted..The decision is similar to the one granted in Regina on Dec. 27 against Unifor protesters at the Co-op Refinery in Regina..Local 594 also set up a blockade at a fuelling depot in East Saint Paul, just outside of Winnipeg on Jan. 28. The depot belongs to Imperial Oil and the union is blocking Co-op trucks from access..“We just want to send a message to Co-op that we’re prepared as a unit to go wherever we need to go to make our statement,” John Harte, a Local 594 member from Regina told Global News..Local 594 in Regina has continued with blockades despite the current judicial orders. Uniform national president Jerry Dias and 13 others were arrested less than two weeks ago and charged with mischief..Banda said the company wants to continue bargaining with the union but they want the business’s rights respected as well..“Unifor, I’m calling on you to end these illegal blockades and get back to the bargaining table for as long as it takes to get our people back to work,” Banda said in a press release Monday..Banda said bargaining does not look like blockades and defying court orders..“You can’t have meaningful bargaining when your business is being held hostage.”.Local 594 president Kevin Bittman said they are the only union out of 63 locals who was unable to renew their contract last year..“We’ve been negotiating since February (2019) – we met 22 times,” Bittman said..“We were happy with the status quo – we just wanted to sign again and keep working.”.FCL has a “refinery facts” page on their website with the company’s take on the offer presently before the union..Deirdre is Western Standard’s Senior Reporter.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com @Mitchell_AB
