Shell workers apply for strike vote

Over 230 workers employed at Shell Canada’s Scotford refinery in Fort Saskatchewan have been waiting on a new contract with their employer. Their previous contract expired at the end of February.

Negotiations began in January, over a month before the contract expired.

These workers, which are employed in both the production and maintenance departments of the company, are represented by Local 530-A of Unifor.

According to the union, their negotiating team went into bargaining raising their concern that there are “wage gaps between their facility and Shell Scotford’s competitors” that leave these workers being paid “well-below industry standards”.

In their previous contract, workers received a wage freeze for the first year, a 1.75% increase for the second year, and a 2.25% increase for last year, which was the final year of the contract.

In March 2020, the last time the workers received a raise prior to the most recent contract, Alberta’s consumer price index sat at 144.1. By the time their latest collective ageement expired in February, the province’s CPI had climbed to 166.8, an increase of 22.7 points, or 15.75%.

So during the last 3 years, while these workers saw their wages increase by only 4%, inflation in Alberta had increased by nearly 16%, almost four times their raise.

As a result, these workers have seen their real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—plummet by 11.75% in just the last 4 years.

That means that goods and services they purchased for $1000 in March 2020 would now cost them $1,117.50. Either that or the same $1000 would only get them $882.50 worth of the same goods and services today.

Negotiations went to mediation for 3 days in the middle of May, resulting in a set of recommendations for the employer and the workers to ratify. However, the workers voted “overwhelmingly”, according to the union, to reject the mediator’s recommendations.

As a result, the union has applied to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for a strike vote. They submitted their application on 14 June, according the the ALRB’s new application report dated 17 June 2024, which I’ve included at the end of this article.

If the ALRB approves the application and the workers vote in favour of striking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the workers will immediately go on strike.

The workers’ bargaining team can then take the strike vote results to negotiations as leverage, showing the employer that the workers are so desparate to have their real wage cut reversed that they’re willing to strike for it.

If the employer then rejects this tactic, as employers often do, then the workers may follow up with an actual strike.

In response, according to the same new applications report, Shell applied for a lockout poll—also on the 14th—which they could potentially use to lockout workers before they have a chance to launch a strike.

Update (10 July 2024): The union announced on 10 July 2024 that the workers approved a new 4-year contract, which includes a combined wage increase of 16% over the life of the contract.