Lockout keeps Sydney coal from power plant

A picket line at the Sydney coal piers is preventing trucks from loading coal for the power plant in Point Aconi.

Logistec Stevedoring locked out 18 unionized employees on Monday in a dispute over wages.

On Tuesday morning, seven trucks that would normally pick up coal were stopped at the picket line. They were sent away by their own managers.

"We are not going through," said Todd MacLeod, a driver with S&M Trucking. "This is as far as we are going until we are told to leave."

The trucks usually haul close to 1,700 tonnes of coal a day to Nova Scotia Power plants.

Nova Scotia Power says it has been assured by Logistec that its operations won't be affected by the blockade, though neither company will say how the coal will be supplied.

There is no indication the labour dispute will end anytime soon.

Wages an issue

A Logistec representative at the site told police the company is applying for an injunction.

No one from the company returned the CBC's calls Tuesday afternoon.

Bobby Burchell, with the United Mine Workers, said the locked-out workers want $5 an hour more over four years, but Logistec is offering 38 cents more over two years.

"This is the employees of Logistec's livelihood and, you know, if we don't take a stand, they end up losing their jobs," he said.

Police have been at the site a couple of times, but have taken no action.

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