The worker lockout at Regina's Co-op Refinery Complex shows that, left unchecked, corporations will transfer the costs and burdens of the necessary transition to a fossil fuel-free future to workers.

"In 2019, the Co-op Refinery Complex of the Federated Co-op. of Canada locked out its workers, represented by Unifor Local 594, after negotiations failed. Underlying the bargaining issues was CRC's use of the transition to a "low carbon" future as the justification for cutting wages, demanding concessions on work conditions and reducing the workers' pension plan. This book focuses on the lockout to understand the prospects for a "just transition" away from Canada's dependence on oil and gas; as well as important worker rights--the right to strike and picket; the role of government during strikes and lockouts; occupational health and safety; the need for labour journalism; the state of pensions in collective bargaining; and the state of co-operatives and co-operative values in Canada. But unlike UNIFOR National's calls for a just transition for fossil fuel workers, the CRC lockout provides a case study in the rollback of collective bargaining, worker rights, cooperative spirit and environmental justice. Solidarity between unions and community movements will be absolutely necessary to win a just transition--corporations and governments are poised to make a transition that will be detrimental to workers and communities."--