Newfoundland-Labrador fishermen, to put it mildly, have not had a good spring. First, federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Robert Thibault closed what was left of the cod fishery. Then crab processors in the province announced that they would not buy any crab catches because the market price was too low, and the plants were shut down.
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) took the processors to court. On June 5 Newfoundland-Labrador Supreme Court Justice Keith Mercer ruled that the processors were engaged in an illegal lockout, and he ordered the plants to reopen.
However, on June 11, plant workers, many but not all non-union, threatened a work stoppage demanding more guaranteed work and better Employment Insurance benefits, a move that was attacked by FFAW president Earle McCurdy, who says that plant workers were being manipulated by company officials in an effort to evade the court order. The union has served legal papers on the plant workers reminding them of the court injunction against any work stoppage.
“The harvesting sector of our fishery operates under a code of ethics developed by the Professional Fish Harvester’s Certification Board in consultation with rank and file harvesters, under the auspices of provincial legislation,” McCurdy says. “A code of ethics for fish processors is needed, with compliance a condition of license.”
He added, “Protest activity supposedly being led by crab plant workers in non-union plants is being master-minded by big crab companies aiming to solidify their iron grip on the industry – even if it’s at the expense of the 2003 fishery.”
On May 28, Fishery Products International in St. John’s announced that it would suspend operations in Port aux Choix, Bonavista, Triton and Port Union. The announcement added, “FPI will no longer be providing ice and bait to its harvesters and will not accept any more crab or shrimp after the current catches are processed.”
Other processors made similar announcements.
“Everyone knows the industry is no longer economically viable for the processors but we had hoped the problem could have been solved without a shutdown”, said FPI CEO Derrick Rowe. “Too many of our workers and harvesters will suffer hardship and are victims of this shutdown, just as the company is a victim. We need to get this fishery open as soon as possible and get our people back to work.”
On June 9, FPI announced that it was “in the process of resuming regular operations of its crab and shrimp plants.”
On June 10, most crab fishermen were back on the water even though no new price schedule had been agreed upon. On the same day, processing plant workers threatened the shutdown.
FFAW President McCurdy came out swinging. “Anarchy is afoot in our outports under the Machiavellian and self-serving direction of a few very powerful individuals,” he said. “The processing license issued by the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador is a privilege issued only to a very few. The license holders continually demand no one else receive this privilege. I’m calling on the Premier to make it absolutely clear that Government will lift the license of any company which participates in a resumption of their illegal lockout.”
McCurdy concluded, “This is the planned resumption of the illegal lockout behind a thinly veiled disguise … I have advised Premier Grimes’ office of this situation. The Provincial Government has to decide whether this province is being governed by them or by mob rule orchestrated by the big fish companies.”