The Law of Work
  • Home
  • About
  • Professor David Doorey
  • Osgoode Hall LLM
  • Books
  • Guest Contributors
  • Useful Links
    • Archive
  • Home
  • About
  • Professor David Doorey
  • Osgoode Hall LLM
  • Books
  • Guest Contributors
  • Useful Links
    • Archive
The Law of Work
Charter of Rights and FreedomsSaskatchewanSupreme Court of CanadaUnions and Collective Bargaining

Saskatchewan: The long arms of the law still denying Unifor Local 594 members the ability to obtain a collective agreement

by Ronni Nordal May 8, 2020
written by Ronni Nordal May 8, 2020

Written by Ronni Nordal, Q.C., Regina

Consumer’s Co-op Refineries Limited (CCRL) locked out members of Unifor Local 594 on December 5, 2019.  As I wrote in my March 11, 2020 post Is there a Right to Picket in Saskatchewan, CCRL’s ability to obtain an interim injunction, and ultimately to have Unifor Local 594 held in contempt of the injunction has substantially interfered with the Charter rights of Unifor Local 594 members to engage in picket activities for the purpose of collective bargaining.  The lockout continues because CCRL rejected the recommendations of government appointed mediator Vince Ready and has, in fact, indicated it now requires further concessions from Unifor Local 594. 

The December 29, 2019 Order places specific limits on Unifor Local 594’s ability to impede ingress/egress from 5 civic addresses in the City of Regina and from one facility in the R.M. of Sherwood (see paragraph 9 of February 12, 2020 contempt decision, Robertson J). 

Without the ability to exert economic pressure through meaningful picketing at the CCRL site in Regina – members of Unifor Local 594 attempted to exercise the Charter protected right to picket by setting up a picket line at the Co-op Bulk Fuel site in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan starting Wednesday May 7, 2020, a location not covered by the Order.

However, the RCMP attended at the Co-op Bulk Fuel site in Moose jaw today and told Unifor Local 594 members they were carrying out a mischief investigation and that if individuals on the picket line did not provide identification they would potentially be charged with obstruction. 

The picket line continued and Unifor Local 594 members were stopping vehicles for up to 30 minutes from entering the Moose Jaw site and communicating during picketing.  On Friday, May 8, 2020 the RCMP attended and advised that if entry to the Moose Jaw premises was obstructed, charges would be laid and the picketers would be arrested.

At the Moose Jaw site the morning of Friday, May 8, 2020, an RCMP officer directed the picketers as follows:

Basically if trucks come in and you want to talk to the driver – to have a little chat with him, should not have a problem – but you cannot stop them from entering the premises.  We have consulted with Crown Counsel and what you have been doing for the past 2 days has been the threshold for a charge of mischief.

It appears that as of May 8, 2020 the CCRL can continue its operation with its replacement worker onsite camp while it has been declared illegal for Unifor Local 594 members to exercise any meaningful right to picket.  The right to picket in Saskatchewan has been reduced to standing on the side of the road and waving to passersby, unless a driver voluntarily elects to stop and talk to the locked out workers. The cycle is complete, the law protects the right of the employer to set up a work camp to house replacement workers during a pandemic while using its full force to ensure picketing has no effect on the employer’s operations. The 2015 Supreme Court of Canada Labour Trilogy was seen as a milestone event for all workers in Canada —— who would have thought it would all be down hill from there. 

Ronni Nordal, “Right to Picket All But Dead in Saskatchewan: RCMP Moves In to Protect Co-Op in Protracted Lockout” Canadian Law of Work (May 8 2020): https://lawofwork.ca/?p=12467


0 comment
3
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
Ronni Nordal

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

previous post
Challenges Faced by Immigrants Working in the Medical Field
next post
CUPW Alleges that #Foodora Acted Unlawfully by Pulling Out of Canada. Here’s the Complaint.

You may also like

Models of Broader-Based Sectoral Collective Bargaining

February 3, 2023

Is Memorial University Illegally Preventing Workers from Joining...

February 2, 2023

What Might a Right to Strike for Non-Union...

December 16, 2022

Lessons for the Railway Showdown from a Victory...

November 30, 2022

Court Strikes Down Ontario’s Punitive Public Sector Wage...

November 29, 2022

New Video: Standing Up to the Notwithstanding Clause

November 25, 2022

On the Right to Strike in Canada and...

November 1, 2022

UPDATE: Ontario Invokes Notwithstanding Clause, Crushes Labour Rights...

October 31, 2022

R.O. MacDowell: Who Defines Appropriate Bargaining Units After...

October 10, 2022

(Video) Professor Doorey on ‘Micro Labour Law’ Below...

October 6, 2022

Follow Us On Social Media

Twitter

Latest Tweets

David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to Follow

Law Prof. Talking #labor & #employment #law to the masses. @YorkUniversity @OsgoodeNews @LSELaw @CLJEHarvard @Jacobin @OnLaborBlog https://t.co/5V9r8VPHsh

TheLawofWork
thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
10h

I can’t believe that Almost Famous came out 23 years ago.

Time is flying by.

Reply on Twitter 1622776388179705859 Retweet on Twitter 1622776388179705859 3 Like on Twitter 1622776388179705859 14 Twitter 1622776388179705859
thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
11h

I had an LLM student who had a part-time job phantom writing labor arbitration decisions based on arbitrator’s notes and instructions.

Like law clerks do for judges (except parties don’t know about the phantom arb writer).

Is using a machine different? Interesting debate.

Valerio De Stefano @valeriodeste

The crucial part starts on p. 5, where the Court reports the answers to the legal questions they posed to ChatGPT. Then, at the end of p. 6, the Court adopts the arguments given in these answers as grounds for its decision.

Reply on Twitter 1622759377944952834 Retweet on Twitter 1622759377944952834 5 Like on Twitter 1622759377944952834 8 Twitter 1622759377944952834
thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
12h

Quebec passed anti-scab legislation in 1977, BC in 1993, & Ontario 1993-95.

Hysterical claims that these laws cause job losses & loss of investment aren't supported by evidence. Businesses just don't like them.

Short 🧵

1/

Seamus O'Regan Jr @SeamusORegan

We’re banning replacement workers, as we said on Oct. 19th.

We’re working with unions and employers to get the balance right.

As agreed, government will introduce legislation by the end of this year.

Reply on Twitter 1622745098088861702 Retweet on Twitter 1622745098088861702 16 Like on Twitter 1622745098088861702 39 Twitter 1622745098088861702
Load More

Categories

  • Alberta
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Australia
  • British Columbia
  • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • Childcare
  • Class Action
  • Climate and Just Transition
  • Collective Bargaining
  • Common Law of Employment
  • Comparative Work Law
  • competition law
  • construction
  • COVID-19
  • Diversity
  • Employee Classification
  • Employment Insurance
  • Employment Regulation
  • Europe
  • Financial Industry
  • Fissured Work
  • Freedom of Association
  • frustration of contract
  • Gig Work
  • Health and Safety
  • Health Care
  • Human Rights
  • Immigration
  • Interest Arbitration
  • International Law
  • Labour Arbitration
  • Labour Economics
  • Law of Work Archive
  • Legal Profession
  • Manitoba
  • Migrant Workers
  • Minimum Wage
  • Newfoundland
  • Nova Scotia
  • OLRB
  • Ontario
  • Pension Bankruptcy
  • Privacy
  • Public Sector
  • Quebec
  • Real Life Pleadings
  • Saskatchewan
  • Scholarship
  • Sports Labour
  • Strikes and Lockouts
  • Student Post
  • Supreme Court of Canada
  • technology
  • Transnational Law
  • Uncategorized
  • Unions and Collective Bargaining
  • United States
  • Videos
  • Women and Work
  • Wrongful Dismissal
  • Home
  • About
  • Guest Contributors
Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Guest Contributors
  • Legal Scholarship
  • Useful Links
  • Archive
Menu
  • Legal Scholarship
  • Useful Links
  • Archive

2020. Canadian Law of Work Forum. All Rights Reserved.