Unifor union said on Friday its members at Shell’s Scotford refinery in Canada have applied to the Alberta labour regulator for a strike vote later this month after rejecting a mediator’s terms of settlement related to compensation.
The Scotford complex at Alberta consists of a bitumen upgrader, oil refinery, chemicals plant and a carbon capture and storage facility.
The upgrader has a capacity of 320,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of diluted bitumen, according to Shell.
The company started bargaining with the union in January for a new agreement and agreed to the mediator’s terms after many months of discussion, a Shell spokesperson said.
The union said its Local 530-A members rejected the mediator’s recommendations since it would have kept the compensation of refinery workers at Scotford “well-below industry standards.”
“We will continue to work through the bargaining process to reach a mutually acceptable agreement for both parties,” the Shell spokesperson added.