Information Picket Supports Locked out Petro-Canada Workers

Members of Canada’s largest energy workers’ union will picket select Petro-Canada gas stations Friday and Saturday nationwide in support of locked-out workers at the company’s Montreal refinery.The Winnipeg picket will be: Noon, Friday Feb. 29th, Petro Canada at Broadway and Main Street. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada has declared Friday and Saturday National Days of Action in support of 270 Petro-Canada workers who were locked out by their employer in November.Though the company is making record profits, it has steadfastly refused to negotiate with workers in Montreal, who are asking for the same settlement negotiated with other plants across the country.

“This is an attempt to break our system of pattern bargaining in the energy sector,“ says CEP President Dave Coles. “In doing so the company is placing the safety of the surrounding community at risk.“ Petro-Can’s lock-out means the refinery is being run by inadequately-trained managers who are working extremely long hours without breaks. An inquiry into the explosion at the BP refinery in Texas in 2005, which killed 15 people, concluded that fatigue and poor training were behind that tragedy.“We are calling on Petro-Canada to let these men and women return to their jobs before disaster strikes,“ says Coles.