GRIEVANCE UPDATE

Going into the spring season, I wanted to give the membership an update on the current grievance landscape. As of today, there are currently 162 total grievances that are in varying stages of the grievance process. That is a staggering number and one that the grievance committees and I are working diligently to come to a resolution on. Below is a breakdown of the number of grievances at each stage:

1. Awaiting Step 1 meetings with the Company - 21
2. Awaiting Step 1 responses from the Company - 68
3. Awaiting Step 2 meetings with the Company - 54
4. Awaiting Step 2 responses from the Company - 12
5. Grievance Backlog Project discussions ongoing - 2
6. Arbitrations pending or scheduling - 5

Yearly grievance numbers have been trending up for many years now, with 2025 seeing the most filed in 594's vast history at 86 in total. As of today, 10 grievances have been filed this year, with many others going through the investigation stage. Unfortunately, due to the Company’s inaction and failure to prioritize these grievances, the majority now fall well outside the timelines set out in Article 14 (Grievance Procedure) of the CBA. The time delay that has become the "norm" in the last few years is a disservice to the membership and makes it difficult to come to timely resolutions on important matters. That being said, I assure you that the executive officers, stewards and myself are continuing to push these issues in our effort to hold the Company accountable.  

In the past several months, there has been a distinct spike in the amount of discipline being handed out by the Company. For years now, through training and the various messaging from Refinery Senior Leadership, there has been a focus on accountability, "lessons learned", and improvement while shifting away from blaming the individual. This is considered a "best practice" within the industry and across society as a whole.  Unfortunately, in stark contrast to this messaging, blame in the form of discipline is becoming all too common. Communication with supervisors, team meetings, 1-on-1s, and open discussions have been replaced with disciplinary letters, suspensions, alcohol and substance tests, and terminations. Within the industry, there has been a focus on organizations to support a reporting culture to foster better understanding and reactions to incidents, which CRC has embraced. The increase in discipline as a first step contradicts this message, as it is human nature to be less forthcoming if there is fear of retribution and discipline. For myself and many of the members in the field, this is disheartening and leads to declining morale. The grievance procedure is an essential tool to combat the excessive and unreasonable discipline that is becoming commonplace, and the stewards have been working diligently to investigate these instances and ensure that all members are being treated equitably and fairly.  

I would like to thank all stewards for all the hard work they put in every day, whether it be investigations, meetings with members, grievance meetings and arbitrations.   

Kurt Haakensen, Chief Shop Steward

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Chris, myself, and other 594 members were able to attend the Conflict Resolution course offered by Unifor’s Paid Education Leave (PEL), at the Delta Hotel in Regina from February 23 to 26th. The course offered many new skills for dealing with workplace conflict. The keys to dealing with conflict efficiently are effective communication and listening. As we are both shop stewards, using the skills we went over during the course to potentially deal with varying levels of conflict can help maintain trust within our crew.

Trust can be established before a conflict arises by being consistent in how we treat each other, regardless of how well we know the person or what the situation is that created the conflict. We can take the time and effort to fulfill the needs and expectations of the employee and use clear and concise communication. We also need to be aware of what can cause roadblocks to communication by learning to be an effective listener. To do this, we must listen to the facts, people's feelings, and their intentions, and to paraphrase the key facts back in your own words to ensure that they know that they are being heard. 

Once we have established the facts and the feelings that have caused the conflict, we can continue to use our skills to work through the issue. Another tool is to reframe the facts and ideas around the conflict and restate it in a different way. This changes the way that the thought is being presented so that we can dive deeper into the core issue by removing the blame and accusations around the issue. With this, we can continue to emphasize the positive goal and identify the underlying needs and common ground that can resolve the conflict. We can then summarize in a condensed form what has been said by highlighting the key points and refocusing on the critical elements in a shortened form. At this point, we also need to remember to listen to the person with empathy by being aware of their feelings and not trying to fix, but acknowledging them. By putting yourself in the other person’s shoes, we can understand what they are thinking about the situation and what they need to resolve it.

PEL is available to all of us, so if the timing works, we encourage everyone to take a course offered by Unifor National.

In Solidarity, Jaret McCloy & Chris Szala

• Congratulations to Josh Krupp (Section 2) and Danielle, who welcomed their son Emmett to their family on February 14th, 2026.

Congratulations

To the following 594 member on their recent retirement:

Vic Czarnecki- Pipefitter (January 1, 2026)