For eighteen months, the manufacturing company CESSCO, based in Edmonton, Alberta, has locked out unionized employees. Meanwhile, the firm has used Canada’s federal government COVID-19 wage subsidy funds to hire scabs.

Unionized employees at CESSCO Fabrication and Engineering Ltd have opposed a raft of attacks on their pay and working conditions. These include slashing wages by 10 percent, pensions by up to 50 percent, and removing seniority from their collective agreement. In union agreements, seniority stipulates that wage and security benefits accrue to workers based on their length of service, so those who have been there the longest are paid the most and are the last to be let go in the event of layoffs.

The employees, many of which are boilermaker fitters and welders who manufacture containers that hold gases and liquids for the oil and gas industry, have been locked out of their workplace since June 28, 2020.