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On Friday morning, Kalpesh Patel’s phone started to ring. It rang so much that he stopped taking calls.

He said people were calling him a scab, and asking why he’s taking other peoples’ jobs.

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Patel watched a video posted by Unifor in the midst of a bitter labour dispute with the Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC). It was called “Meet the Scabs.” He saw his name and likeness, along with the words “Scab at Co-op Refinery.”

It left him “confused.”

Then he started to worry. Patel, a co-owner of Birmingham’s Vodka & Ale House, remains adamant that he has never worked as a replacement worker at the Co-op Refinery Complex.

“I have nothing to do with the union or Co-op refinery,” he said. “I want to clear my name. I don’t want to further damage my name and my business.”

Patel was clear during a press conference he held at his business on Monday: He has never been to the refinery. He told the assembled media that he has never worked there, has no business relationship with it, no contract — no association whatsoever.