Rogers Sugar workers continue Vancouver strike, no negotiations in sight
Posted October 7, 2023 1:12 pm.
A week after more than 135 workers at Rogers Sugar walked off the job, they say there are no clear plans to return to the negotiating table.
After a unanimous strike vote, members of the Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 8 began picketing on Sept. 28 in front of Rogers Sugar in Vancouver. The union says it’s striking to save its seniority rights, benefits, and Employee Family Assistance Program
The union says despite setting up a picket line in front of the factory and in surrounding areas, the company has continued to run its sugar plant and various trucking companies have been removing sugar from the premises.
A “hot goods” edict has been declared by the union, it says, to discourage other companies from continuing to deal with Rogers Sugar until the union can get back to the bargaining table.
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But it says the only communication it has had with the company was to inform them the company is not prepared to take continuous shifting off the table.
In the past month, Rogers Sugar’s stock price has dropped approximately five per cent. The Rogers sugar refinery in Vancouver supplies the Western United States, among other areas, and produces up to 240,000 tonnes of sugar per year.
In a statement posted on the union’s website, members say they’re “overwhelmed by the support we are receiving from other unions as well as the general public.”
“Hopefully Rogers Sugar sees what is going on and changes their demands,” the union said in a statement.
CityNews has reached out to Rogers Sugar for comment.
