Striking Rogers Sugar workers reach tentative deal

Rogers Sugar says it’s reached a tentative deal with the union representing striking workers from its Vancouver refinery.

“This tentative agreement is subject to a ratification vote that will be held next week,” Rogers Sugar Inc. said in a statement today.

The workers walked off the job on Sept. 28 after, “the Company was proposing a Collective Agreement, with items that were brought up by the membership, as non-starters,” said union Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 8, which represents the workers, in a Sept. 29 news release.

The statement from Rogers contained no details as to what the tentative agreement contained.

In September, the union said it would not entertain “continuous shifting” and running the refinery 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A Sept. 25 news release said the union was also seeking increases in benefits and protection from inflation and rising costs of living among other demands.

The strike, which sparked sugar shortages for businesses like bakeries western Canadian grocery stores, led the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers to call for a national domestic sugar policy to shift focus to home-grown sugar beet production.

The group said its growers produce only eight per cent of the sugar sold in Canada, while the remainder is imported cane sugar. The goal of a domestic sugar policy, as laid out by the Alberta group and its national counterpart, the Canadian Sugar Beet Growers Association, would be to double sugar beets’ market foothold to 16 per cent of national sugar consumption. This would drive investment in refineries and open new grower opportunities.