Tag Archives: FFAW president Greg Pretty
Crab harvesters heading back to Confederation Building on Monday morning, Efford says
John Efford, the unofficial leader of a fisheries union protest that has gripped Newfoundland and Labrador’s seafood industry, says crab harvesters will be back to protesting on Monday morning. In a Facebook post on Thursday evening, Efford called on harvesters to meet outside Confederation Building at 7 a.m. NT on Monday to protest for a better deal to start the lucrative snow crab season, along with other demands. Efford called on harvesters from all over the province to head to St. John’s to begin protests. The main crux of the protest relates to the ongoing dispute over the crab season. The FFAW and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) have exchanged barbs in recent days, accusing each other of spreading misinformation. more, >>click to read<< 12:35
Crab tie-up means plant workers turn to income support, says Opposition critic
After weeks of protesting, including shutting down Confederation Building, fish harvesters scored big with concessions on who they could sell their catches to. The situation soured soon after, when the new crab price formula was revealed. Put forward by the Association for Seafood Producers, the floor price is set at $2.60 per pound and the harvester’s share is set at 37 per cent of market value above $8 per pound. Harvesters are refusing to go out on the water with the current formula. Bonavista MHA Craig Pardy called the situation unfortunate and said he’d hoped to avoid a repeat of last year, when there was a six-week delay to the start of the season. Pardy said he’s heard that more than 50 Bonavista plant workers have had their EI support elapse and are now without income. more, >>click to read<< 14:02
Crab harvesters refusing to fish under current pricing formula, union wants right to strike
In a news release Tuesday night, the Fish, Food & Allied Workers said its members cannot fish under the price formula chosen by the province’s price-setting panel. That formula was put forward by the Association for Seafood Producers and sets a floor price of $2.60 per pound. The union held a meeting on Tuesday afternoon with more than 40 crab committee chairs from across the province, and said the message was clear. “Crab harvesters fully understand the importance of their business to their families and their communities. This injustice must be corrected, and we expect that harvesters will support leadership’s position to not fish,” FFAW president Greg Pretty said in the release. more, >>click to read<< 10:04
Northern cod remains in cautious zone, DFO says growth has stalled. FFAW critical of methodology
Scientists with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada say the northern cod stock remains above the critical zone in Newfoundland and Labrador but hasn’t shown signs of growth since 2016. DFO released the findings of its latest stock assessment on Tuesday, showing levels are still in the cautious zone. Paul Regular, northern cod stock lead for DFO, said their findings suggest numbers haven’t changed much since 2016. The province’s fisheries union, meanwhile, is questioning the validity of DFO’s findings this year, given that some of the work was done earlier in the season than normal. Video, more, >>click to read<< 11:42
Fisheries protests give rise to a new John Efford — but what’s next for the unofficial leader?
Until this month, the general public would have associated Efford’s name with his late father — the former fisheries minister who was a firebrand in his own right. But here was the younger Efford, a fisherman from Port de Grave, standing in the back of a pickup truck with a group of followers gathered in front of him. He had led them through two days of intense protests outside the house of government, and now he was the one holding the megaphone — not Fish, Food and Allied Workers union president Greg Pretty, nor FFAW treasury-secretary Jason Spingle. “Thank Jesus we’ve finally got some leadership!” a fisherman yelled from the crowd. “Isn’t it about time?” Efford quipped, garnering cheers. photos, video, more, >>click to read<< 06:16
Fishery protests ’embarrassing for the province’, says head of producers’ association
Fish harvesters gathered in protest at Confederation Building from Wednesday to Friday this week, calling on the provincial government to change capacity limits for harvesters and allow them to sell their catch to out-of-province buyers. A deal accepting those demands was reached Friday afternoon. “Personally, I found it embarrassing for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That type of signal that we’re sending to the markets, that that’s the level of stability and co-operation we have as the major industry partners, is really unfortunate,” Loder said Friday. photos, video, more, >>click to read<< 08:07
“We got ‘er done” – Fish harvesters reach deal with N.L. government to allow catch to be sold to outside buyers
John Efford Jr. fought back tears as he announced the news to hundreds of fish harvesters standing before him — they’d struck a deal with the Newfoundland and Labrador government to end days of protests. According to Efford — the de facto protest leader — and members of the fisheries union, the provincial government has agreed to let fish harvesters sell their catch to buyers from outside the province, regardless of species. They also said they have commitments on moving caps on processing to promote competition within the industry. “We got ‘er done,” Efford told reporters afterward. “Free enterprise for every species.” more, >>click o read<< 13:22
Despite arbitrator’s ruling that FFAW strike was illegal, president says he’d do it again
A week after an arbiter ruled the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union illegally broke its collective agreement with a six-week strike at the start of the crab harvest, union president Greg Pretty says he’d do it again. The Association of Seafood Producers filed a grievance over the 2023 tie-up held to protest the low price of crab. Arbitrator David Orsborn concluded the union declared a “cessation of business dealings,” which violated the terms of the agreement and the Fishing Industry Collective Bargaining Act. “I have a job to do. We have a job to do. Our elected leadership has a job to do. Our … crab bargaining committee has a job to do. So I’m not sure we would do things a lot differently.” more, >>click to read<< 11:38
Commercial Cod Harvesters Opposed to Drastic Increases in Rec. Fishery
Commercial fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador are calling for stricter monitoring of the recreational cod fishery in the province and assert that unaccounted for removals in the recreational fishery could threaten the conservation integrity of the stock. The petition to the federal government supported by Conservative MP Clifford Small is to more than double the number of days in the recreational fishery from 39 to roughly 90. Recreational removals are a significant source of uncertainty in DFO science and management and is blatantly contradictory to the Department’s mandate to monitor fish landings. more, >>click to read<< 14:04
Flawed snow crab price-setting system needs overhaul soon, FFAW says
The president of the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union says time is ticking on getting a new formula-based seafood pricing system in place ahead of the 2024 season. A November report from the province’s three-person fish price-setting team submitted to the provincial government said the current seafood price-setting process is flawed and changes need to be made to avoid another tie-up that halted the snow crab industry for six weeks last season. The report offered nine recommendations, including that a formula-based pricing system be implemented by the end of January. FFAW president Greg Pretty said that process is underway. more, >>click to read<< 14:16
Seafood-pricing system is flawed and a new one needs to be in place by end of January, says report
A new report from the Newfoundland and Labrador government says the current seafood price-setting process is flawed, and it outlines the need for a formula-based system that would improve the industry for harvesters and plant owners. The report was sparked by a tie-up in the spring that delayed the start of the snow crab fishery. Prices were set at just $2.20 per pound at the start of the season, and the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union and Association of Seafood Producers failed to produce an agreeable pricing formula. It says the current process for price setting, which is done by a panel, is flawed — and that the panel has an “impossible task” when faced with a fluctuating market. >>click to read<< 17:56
Fisheries’ union president blasts N.L.’s oil regulator over encroachment on crab harvesters’ turf
At this moment, ExxonMobil’s Hercules rig is drilling about 350 kilometres east of St. John’s, in the Jeanne D’Arc Basin, as part of its oil exploration program but it has pushed crab harvesters out of an area where their catch is abundant, and the union is calling foul. It could be a sign of future friction, warns Fish, Food & Allied Workers-Unifor president Greg Pretty, who is blasting the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board over what he calls a lack of communication and a disregard for the fishing industry. “We were actually shocked to find out that that rig, the Hercules — the drill rig — was actually on one of the most productive crab grounds in that area,” Pretty said Thursday. >click to read< 15:56
Fisheries union, harvesters eager to work with new federal minister
Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal MP for the Quebec riding of Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, was one of several ministers to assume new roles in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet on Wednesday. She leaves the revenue portfolio to assume the role of minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard from Joyce Murray, who has announced she will not seek re-election. FFAW president Greg Pretty said he’s eager to meet the new minister. “This woman is from the Gaspé Peninsula. She represents harvesters, we got a lot in common,” Pretty said Wednesday. >click to read< 15:38
Crab catch price creeps up and plants ramp up as delayed N.L. harvest enters third week
The protests and the rhetoric have somewhat subsided, and the catch price has improved slightly, as Newfoundland and Labrador’s long delayed and controversy-riddled snow crab harvest enters a third week. “It’s been a very smooth start largely due to the state of readiness that producers have been in now for eight weeks,” Jeff Loder, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers, said Friday. But there’s rarely smooth sailing in the fishing industry, with tensions continuing to simmer between the ASP and the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union, which represents harvesters and plant workers. Some outstanding issues include trip limits for fishing vessels to ensure an orderly harvest and maintain the highest quality, changes in the long-standing policy,,, >click to read< 17:37
Snow crab producers, harvesters ready to move on from 6-week delay to start of season
“We have a shortened season, we have an increase in quota, and it’s very important that we keep our focus not on what has happened, but where we need to go,” ASP executive director Jeff Loder told reporters Tuesday. Loder did show slight frustration around the length of the holdout, saying both the price of $2.20 and the incremental increases were part of conversations months ago. Although the FFAW wasn’t able to change the $2.20 per pound set by the price-setting panel, President Greg Pretty says the work done in six weeks of holding out, like making sure $2.20 is the minimum price along with incremental increases, is a positive. >click to read< 15:06
Deal reached in Newfoundland and Labrador crab fishery, harvesters to start fishing
A bitter standoff that shut down Newfoundland and Labrador’s lucrative snow crab fishery for nearly six weeks came to an end on Friday. The union representing inshore fishers and plant workers announced its negotiating team had reluctantly signed a deal with the group representing seafood processors to start the fishery. The deal guarantees prices would not fall below $2.20 a pound, the price fishers were protesting in the first place. Shortly after the union announced the agreement, the provincial government issued a news release saying the deal was the culmination of a meeting that day between the union, the processors association and Premier Andrew Furey, who thanked the two parties for working together. >click to read< 07:56
Pretty over his head: FFAW leader unaware inshore fishery excluded from Competition Act
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says the president of the FFAW-Unifor is over his head in calling for the Competition Bureau of Canada to investigate the inshore fishery when much of the sector is excluded from the act. “It’s shocking that Greg Pretty doesn’t know that the only industry in Canada that’s pretty much excluded from the federal Competition Act is the inshore fishery,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “It’s no wonder the six-week tie-up has been such a circus with nothing to show for it.” Only fish pricing in this province is excluded from the Federal Competition Act. SEA-NL wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in May 2022 (letter below) to request that then-proposed amendments to the Competition Act (which were to tackle anti-competitive conspiracies between competitors that hurt workers) include fish pricing. >click to read< with the letter. 20:35
Snow crab harvesters ‘at wits’ end’ during protest outside union building – suggest fisheries minister should resign
Snow crab harvesters say their patience with the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union has run thin, and made their voices heard at a protest outside its St. John’s office Thursday. Around 100 protesters stood in the office’s parking lot to seek response from leadership, tired of a lack of updates from the union. When it was clear that FFAW leadership wasn’t going to make an appearance at the protest, fisherman Jason Sullivan addressed the crowd. “They’re the biggest bunch of cowards you ever see 
in your life. They won’t come and tell us what’s going on…. They’re gonna say ‘sit tight and keep waiting and keep waiting.’ Waiting for what?” Sullivan said. “It just goes to show, you know, the complete lack of ability to negotiate on the FFAW’s behalf. I mean I wouldn’t let them negotiate my phone bill.” 2 Videos, >click to read< 17:47
Tensions rise in snow crab negotiations as producers make talks with union public
The head of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Association of Seafood Producers is now putting negotiations with the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union out in the open, saying the union mischaracterized meetings between the two groups. The two sides met Wednesday to discuss what the FFAW called a final counter offer from the ASP in the battle for better snow crab prices for harvesters. The offer surfaced in a >news release from the union on Wednesday night<, saying it was made by the ASP. On Thursday morning, ASP executive director Jeff Loder said that statement is untrue. Now, after the FFAW’s press release, Loder says his association will be making any negotiations with the union public. >click to read< 15:14
ASP Pulls Plug on Snow Crab Bargaining
Yesterday, the FFAW-Unifor Snow Crab Bargaining Committee engaged ASP to sit down to the table to discuss a way to move the industry forward. After initial commentary from both sides, the FFAW Committee presented the first offer. The FFAW Negotiating Committee’s first offer was minimum price starting at 2.30 at current Urner Barry (4.65USD) with 15 cent increases at 5.00USD, and 15 cents for every additional 25 cent increase to Urner Barry. ASP flatly rejected this proposal, ended discussions and left the premises, however Loder stated ASP would be available for the remainder of the day. >click to read< 13:25
Snow crab harvesters face final offer in search of better prices
The Fish, Food & Allied Workers Union and the Association of Seafood Producers have reached what the FFAW calls a final counter offer in their search for better snow crab prices. Details were shared on the union’s Facebook page at around 9:30 p.m. NT, over two hours after a meeting between the two parties began. The proposal sets $2.20 per pound as the minimum price of snow crab for the rest of the season. There is an opportunity for increases, which would be tied to the Urner Barry Index, which dictates the market price. The proposal, according to the FFAW’s Facebook page, is as follows: >click to read< 07:55
Tentative deal reached that could see snow crab harvesters back on the water
The Fish, Food & Allied Workers union has reached a tentative deal that could see snow crab harvesters back on the water in short order. The FFAW and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) have been stuck in a stalemate for weeks over the $2.20 per pound price set by the provincial price setting panel in early April. The industry is worth about $756 million. Many harvesters have said the $2.20 price wouldn’t make for a viable season after two years that saw prices over $7 per pound and the rising cost of fuel and other supplies. However, $2.20 per pound will still be the price for the catch but will remain in place for the entire season, not just for the three-week window offered by the ASP before it sought a price reconsideration from the price setting panel. Video, >click to read< 18:27
N.L. fisheries minister urges union to hold secret ballot vote on snow crab harvest
Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg has urged the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union to hold a secret ballot vote asking snow crab harvesters if they are ready to fish at $2.20 per pound. Harvesters have stayed off the water three weeks into the province’s most lucrative fishery, as they protest what they consider a catastrophic price of $2.20 per pound. The topic came to a head earlier this week, when the Association of Seafood Producers called out intimidation and harassment levelled at fish harvesters who have expressed a willingness to fish for $2.20 a pound. >click to read< 10:51
“The market has collapsed.” With crab season on the line, seafood producers’ association digs in its heels on price
Jeff Loder, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers said Monday the crab market has softened in the past few weeks, and the group will not negotiate a new price with fishermen. “The market has collapsed. Prices need to reflect that,” he said. Loder said each day the industry is delayed, with fishermen in the Maritimes and Quebec already out on the water, the worse it is for everyone. “Snow crab is not selling. There’s a glut in inventory,” said Loder, speaking for the first time since the provincial price-setting panel set a minimum price of $2.20 Cdn per pound for harvesters, who responded with protests and say they can’t afford to fish for that price. “We need raw material to get those plants going, and to have any chance to compete with our competitors in Atlantic Canada, who are all fishing in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. at $2.25 a pound,” Video, >click to read< 16:00
Crab season is open, but N.L.’s fishermen are staying on land — and demanding a better price
“It’s not feasible for us to be able to fish. There’s no way to do it for $2.20 a pound with the cost of everything else now,” said Chad Waterman, skipper of the Jacob & Josie, on Tuesday morning. “So we had a meeting on Saturday and we agreed for everybody to tie on and wait it out a week or two weeks or three weeks, whatever it takes to see if we can get a better price. I mean, 50 or 60 cents or an extra dollar a pound, now, is big money for rural Newfoundland, really.… We’re just getting ready now and playing the waiting game, I guess, and see what’s gonna happen going forward.” The $2.20 price — submitted by the provincial Association of Seafood Producers and accepted by the government’s price-setting panel — represents a steep drop from the near $8 per pound at the beginning of last season. >click to read< 08:08
‘This catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium’: Newfoundland crab fleets won’t fish for $2.20 a pound, FFAW is considering ‘political actions’
They’re not going to fish. That’s the promise from crab fleets in Newfoundland and Labrador Thursday, April 6, after the Fish Price Setting panel announced its decision on snow crab prices to start the season. The panel chose the offer of $2.20 a pound submitted by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), a 10 cent increase from their initial offer. The Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) negotiating committee had suggested $3.10, lowering their original offer of $3.48. In a news release Thursday afternoon, FFAW president Greg Pretty said the decision by the panel, “has put our industry in the most precarious position it’s ever been in.” “When it comes to dollars and cents, this catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium,” he said, repeating words first spoken by inshore fish harvester Jason Sullivan during protests over quotas for the inshore fleet earlier this month in St. John’s. >click to read< 11:38
Price setting panel sets snow crab at $2.20 per pound — down over $5 from 2022 season
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, which represents Newfoundland and Labrador’s inshore fishermen, had asked the panel for a price of $3.10, and say fishing at $2.20 per pound is unsustainable. FFAW president Greg Pretty said crab committees throughout the province have decided not to fish at $2.20 per pound, and will review their stance in the coming weeks. “There’s no appetite to go fishing for nothing,” Pretty told CBC Radio Thursday, calling the decision a catastrophe that rivals the cod moratorium of 1992. “You can’t get crew members for that. You can’t even pay crew members on that type of money…. There’s a net economic point where it doesn’t make any sense to fish, and that panel hit right on it. Spot on.”>click to read< 20:02
Persistence pays off for protesting fishermen – Hints of “flexibility”, and a meeting with DFO officials on Monday
Five days of persistence appears to be paying off for the 550 Newfoundland crab fishers from the 3L inshore fleet. The 3L fishing zone is off the island’s east coast. On Friday, March 24, the fishers received a letter from Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray committing to review the possibility of amalgamation of the 3L inshore and offshore areas into one area of biomass. Murray also indicated in her letter, delivered to the Fish Food and Allied Workers’ (FFAW) union that “there is flexibility” in the precautionary approach framework,,, The protests this week, however, were not initiated by the FFAW. “I’ve gotta say thank you to Jason Sullivan. You sir deserve a medal for bringing this to light for 3L inshore fishing !! Without you I don’t think we’d be as far as we are,” wrote Jason Elliott. >click to read< 10:19
Angry inshore harvesters from fishing area 3L demand changes to allow for quota increases
A week of angry protests by inshore crab harvesters from eastern Newfoundland cooled slightly Friday following the promise by the federal fisheries minister of a review of their concerns, and a meeting on Monday between union and federal fisheries officials. Dozens of harvesters were summoned to a hotel in St. John’s on Friday morning by their union for an update on efforts to modify or rip up a management strategy that harvesters say is restricting their chances of higher quotas, and has the potential to drive many of them out of business as markets shrink following a banner year in 2022. There was talk of once again staging a protest, and at one point fisheries union president Greg Pretty donned his jacket and told protestors to follow him to DFO’s White Hills location. “Let’s go. Let’s get out,” Pretty said. >click to read< 13:51
Crab harvesters take protest inside St. John’s hotel as price-setting meetings continue
Newfoundland and Labrador’s crab fishermen resumed their protest Wednesday, calling for a quota increase and changes to the federal government’s fisheries management. Dozens of harvesters descended on a Fisheries and Oceans Canada office in the east end of St. John’s early Wednesday morning, with some using their vehicles to block traffic from coming in or out. Some used symbols of the fishery to protest, like a crab pot placed on the building’s flagpole. Fisherman Jason Sullivan said he and his colleagues are calling for changes to the precautionary approach framework that separates the inshore fishery of Zone 3L from the offshore fishery. >click to read< 16:44
