Unifor again found guilty of contempt of court, fined $250K

The union representing employees at the Co-op refinery has been fined a second time for its actions during the ongoing lockout.

In a written judgment released Wednesday, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Neil Robertson ruled Unifor was in contempt of an injunction served against it and fined the union $250,000.

On Jan. 22, the union was fined $100,000 after being found in contempt of court for violating the injunction.

“Anytime you have to pay money that’s not going to your members in their strike pay, that definitely is a hit,” Unifor Local 594 president Kevin Bittman said when asked about Wednesday’s fine. “But we’ll manage through it.”

The injunction issued in late December allowed picketers to hold vehicles at the refinery gates for a maximum of 10 minutes. If the drivers didn’t want to hear the union’s message, they were to be allowed into the refinery immediately.

On Jan. 20, the union escalated things by using fences, vehicles, wooden pallets and other items to blockade the facility completely.

The Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) went to court Feb. 6 in hopes the court would hold the union as well as two Local 594 executives — Bittman and Lance Holowachuk — in contempt for failing to comply with the earlier injunction.

On Wednesday, Robertson ruled the union “intentionally committed acts prohibited by the injunction” from Dec. 28 through Jan. 27.

He said the union’s action “of repeated and continuing breaches over a period of four weeks shows a pattern which I find to be deliberate and reflective of planning.” He then ordered the removal of all of the barriers from around the refinery.

“We’ve always been saying that we had to wait for the judge’s decision …,” Bittman said. “There was a lot of people in the public that thought they were the judge and the jury but really the only person that can really make that decision was the judge. The judge made that decision (Wednesday) and so we’ll have to live with his decision.”

While many of the barriers around the refinery had been removed already, the barricade at Gate 7 was being dismantled Wednesday.

“The rest of the gates were open already, so Gate 7 was more something that was symbolic,” Bittman said. “It’ll come down and I think (picketers) will be OK with it.”

The union had argued that the barricades didn’t violate the injunction because Unifor Canada — not Local 594 — was in charge of the picket lines. Robertson dismissed that defence outright.

“If the Union enlists or allows participation from outside supporters or contractors on its picket line, it cannot then disown any responsibility for their actions,” he wrote.

He also broadened the scope of the injunction, saying it applied to Local 594 “and any other person having notice of this order.” As well, Robertson gave police “judicial authorization” to enforce the injunction.

He found the union guilty of contempt for its actions and held Holowachuk in contempt for delaying a truck on the line for more than 10 minutes. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service.

Bittman was found not guilty of contempt.

At the hearing, the union asked if any fines could be paid to Street Culture Project Inc., which helps underserved youths in Regina.

On Wednesday, Robertson ruled that Unifor can pay $125,000 to that organization if it so chooses, but $125,000 must go to the government because “the deployment of police resources has been provided at the expense of the public purse.”

In a media release, the refinery said it was pleased with Robertson’s ruling and said it hoped “Unifor will obey the law and abide by the decision of the court.”

The company also noted that the appointment of a special mediator was a positive step, but it wants the union to abide by all of the terms of the initial injunction.

“CRC has been encouraged in recent days as Unifor has begun removing blockades from (Federated Co-operatives Limited) sites,” the release said. “CRC anticipates that (Wednesday’s) ruling will provide Unifor with additional incentive to completely remove all illegal blockades.”

On Sunday, Unifor was ordered by an Alberta justice to remove a barricade it had erected around a Co-op fuel terminal in Carseland, Alta.