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Drawn-out labour-management disputes often obscure the underlying cause(s) of a conflict. The current dispute between Co-op Refinery and Unifor 594 is no different.

Publicly, the central issue of concern is the defined benefit pension plan. However, there is another significant issue at play that you won’t see on any billboard or hear about in a radio ad.

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The refinery, its workers and all of us are facing a change. Two weeks before the lockout, Federated Co-op stated: “we understand that a shift in our traditional fossil fuel market is already taking place and we must be prepared to address the challenges with significant investment in our Refinery.”

In 2018, 87 per cent of FCL’s net income came from its energy unit. In a company video posted earlier this month, CEO Scott Banda reiterated the need to make “major investments in the facility” that differ from “traditional” investments.

FCL contends that a portion of its contributions to the refinery worker pension plan need to be redirected to investments into new infrastructure at the refinery. However, as the dispute drags on, statements about the need to transition the largest piece of oil infrastructure in Saskatchewan are lost in favour of simpler arguments designed to sway public opinion (‘you contribute to your pension, why shouldn’t these workers?’). This is unfortunate.