REGINA -- Wednesday's Regina City Council meeting continued on Thursday morning, with councillor discussing intervening in the Unifor 594 and Co-op labout dispute, along with public consultation about the new Brandt buidling in Wascana Park.

Refinery Dispute

On Thursday’s Regina City Council meeting, nine councillors voted on a recommendation for the city to put pressure on the Province to allow binding third party arbitration that would see a resolution between Unifor 594 and the Co-op refinery.

“The lockout has proven so costly to the City’s economy and to its citizens that it must end,” said Ward 2 Councillor, Bob Hawkins. “The harm in continuing to wait is now too deep.”

Unifor Local 594 members discussed the challenges this labour dispute has had on their personal and professional lives.

“Nearly 800 people in the city are out of work, that’s roughly one per cent of the household without a source of steady income,” said Nic Skulski a Unifor Local 594 member. “You can just imagine this is obviously going to effect local businesses in Regina as none of those workers are spending any money in the community.”

Before council made its decision, it requested information from the Regina Police Service about its involvement in the labour dispute and the price attached to that involvement. The Regina Police Service intervened in the labour dispute following an order from the court.

“This is actual hard costs, this is overtime, actual money out of budget in terms of expenses and this is as from the beginning of March, that is $111,000,” said Supt. Lorilee Davies, from the Regina Police Service.

“We have not yet broken down how much man person hours in terms of the time that people are dealing with the labour dispute during the course of their work day. This would be a very small fraction of costs but certainly just an idea of actual out of pocket costs at this point.”

Nine councillors voted to pass the motion, the only vote of dissent came from the Mayor of Regina who said it’s not council’s place to get involved with a labour dispute.

“We don’t have the jurisdiction in a private labour dispute,” said Mayor Michael Fougere. “We have no lever at all. The motion, if this passes, would be symbolic at best.”

The Premier of Saskatchewan said this decision from council will not change his decision, that the Government is not getting involved.

“I’m not sure there is a place to intervene,” said Premier Scott Moe. “I’m not aware that this is before the courts anywhere or if there is any way for a council to intervene in what is a private sector labour dispute.”

CNIB public constulation

Regina City Council also discussed if the Canadian Institute for the Blind (CNIB) should hold a public consultation about its partnership with Brandt to build a health facility in Wascana Park.

Council voted six to four that the CNIB should hold a public consolation about the facility and gauge public interest.

This council agenda item comes after the Provincial Auditor recommended a public consultation about the building.

CNIB said it’s opposed to this consolation because it held one in 2016 and doesn’t feel a second one is necessary.

“We did a consultation process in 2016 and we followed the guidelines that were given to us by the authority in power at that time,” said Christall Beaudry of CNIB. “Now we’re being required, four years later, to do that yet again. It’s a very frustrating process.”