A group of around two dozen women from Unifor Local 5-9-4 and Unifor National made the trip from the picket line at the Co-op Refinery in Regina to downtown Saskatoon Thursday afternoon.

The group set up a small picket line in front of the Alt Hotel on 2nd Avenue where Co-op CEO Scott Banda was making a presentation to the Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan.

Josephine Petcher, a Unifor Director based out of Toronto had one message for the Co-op CEO.
“We’re just asking him as we’ve been asking him for quite sometime now to come back to the bargaining table.”

The picketers spent about an hour outside of the hotel chanting “solidarity” and “we’ll never be defeated”.

Lana Payne, Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer, said in a news release that if Scott Banda thinks he can claim to be a strong supporter of women in the workplace while he wages an unscrupulous battle against refinery workers, they are there to remind him his actions speak louder than his empty words.

On Thursday morning Unifor National President Jerry Dias called on Premier Scott Moe and the province to appoint a mediator to help find resolution to the on-going lockout at the Co-op Refinery Complex.

Dias also told the media during the morning that he would be meeting with Regina Police Chief Evan Bray later in the day on Thursday.

In statement from Regina Police, Chief Bray described their conversation as “productive” and that the two had a frank conversation focused on public safety and that they both exchanged contact information for future communication.

Thursday marked day 49 of the lockout.