Unifor removes Regina man from video

Unifor has edited a Regina man out of its “meet the scabs” video.

Kalpesh Patel doesn’t appear in a new video which was posted to social media on Wednesday.

Patel’s face and name were on display Friday when Unifor posted a video of people it said were replacement workers at the Co-op refinery.

Patel went public, saying he had never worked at the Co-op refinery, and threatened to sue if he wasn’t removed from the video.

He spoke to the media Monday and reiterated his claims that he was the victim of a case of mistaken identity. He repeated over and over again during the media conference that he just wanted his name cleared.

The video Unifor posted Wednesday doesn’t include Patel’s face or name, but its post on social media doesn’t include the apology Patel was seeking, either.

In an emailed statement, Scott Doherty, executive assistant to Unifor’s national president, acknowledged the video had been changed and said the union is trying to find a photo of another person by the same name who Doherty said is working at the refinery.

Doherty also repeated Unifor’s justification for producing the video: “Unifor makes a point of naming and shaming scabs to discourage anyone from crossing our picket line and taking food off another family’s table … It is Unifor’s view that scabs only serve to help greedy employers prolong labour disputes like this one in Regina.”

A Unifor spokesperson declined to answer further questions about how the mixup happened and whether the union was going to apologize to Patel.