Staff at the Richardson Oilseed Processing canola crushing plant at Lethbridge have given their union a strike mandate but have no plans to use it anytime soon.
Plant staff represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 recently voted 93.8 per cent in favour of a strike, following bargaining sessions last fall and two days of mediation early last month.
However, union representative Randy Ruaben said in a voice mail message Saturday, the union and company are going back to the bargaining table April 8-9.
The Richardson plant, which it called Canbra Foods until 2008, crushes and further-processes canola oil for the Canadian and U.S. food markets, taking in about 400,000 tonnes of canola per year.
That crush capacity is expected to triple to 1.24 million tonnes later this year, when the company is scheduled to open a new, larger crush plant at Yorkton, Sask.
