Tag Archives: Fish Food and Allied Workers’ union
Newfoundland and Labrador crab fishery grinds to a halt as harvesters protest prices
It’s peak crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador, but hundreds of fishers spent Monday morning on land, hoisting fists and signs in the air outside the provincial legislature to protest what they say is an unlivable price for snow crab. Some in the crowd said they would much rather be out on the water than protesting. But harvesters are refusing to fish this season after prices were set at $2.20 per pound, a price they say favours fish processors over those who catch the fish. “Our money tree is the fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and it’s time for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to wake up, for that group of companies is stealing it out from under you!” yelled St. John’s fisher Glen Winslow, pounding his fist on the lectern at the top of the legislature steps. >click to read< 10:00
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
Calls for change continue 1 year after fishermen die off Labrador coast
It’s been one year since fishermen Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins left the wharf in Mary’s Harbour to gather their nets for the last time. The two fishermen died off the southern coast of Labrador on Sept. 17 of last year. Their fishing vessel, the Island Lady, was last seen in the afternoon. No distress calls were received. “It can’t just be an anniversary, briefly. Something more needs to come out of it. No other family should have to grieve like this,” said Niki Greeley, a Lodge Bay resident and Jenkins’s common-law partner. The search on Sept. 17 last year started after Russell’s father noticed his son wasn’t on social media as usual that Friday night. His father called around and found out the boat wasn’t back at the wharf. >click to read< 08:24
TSB: Island Lady likely sank quickly and with no warning
Unable to examine a vessel that cannot be found, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Wednesday it cannot say what happened to a small fishing vessel that disappeared last year off the coast of southern Labrador. Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins of Mary’s Harbour were last seen Sept. 17 aboard the Island Lady, which fished from Mary’s Harbour. The pair had headed out to fish for cod. “The TSB’s investigation into this occurrence could not determine with certainty the cause of the disappearance of the Island Lady,” the board said in a statement Wednesday. >click to read< 14:42
Labrador Shrimp Company Partnership Brings 70 EPIRBS to Harvesters
Seventy commercial fishing enterprises in southern Labrador between L’Anse au Clair and Cartwright will receive an EPIRB. This is made possible through a living memorial to two young harvesters who lost their lives while fishing on the F/V Island Lady on September 17, 2021. Marc Russell, aged 25 from Mary’s Harbour, and Joey Jenkins, aged 30 from Lodge Bay, failed to return home to their community and were never found. The Labrador 
Shrimp Company is spear-heading the project in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Harvesting Safety Association (NL-FHSA), Fish Harvesters’ Resource Centre (FRC), Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board (PFHCB), and the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor). >click to read the press release< 13:52
Harvesters Warn of ‘Dire Effects’ as Minister Aims to Protect Fish Stocks from Climate Disruption
A recent appearance by Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray at an industry annual meeting has set off a sea squall of controversy, with harvesters and unions warning of the “dire social and economic effects” of federal catch limits and Murray stressing her interest in keeping fish stocks sustainable in an era of climate disruption. The unions representing fish harvesters on Canada’s east and west coasts claim her remarks to the annual general meeting of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation (CIFHF) reflected a “singular focus on ocean conservation” at the cost of workers whose livelihoods rely on the fishery industry. >click to read< 15:38
FFAW Launches Awareness Campaign on Seal Overpopulation
ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union is launching a nationwide campaign today to call attention to seal overpopulation in Atlantic Canada and the devastating effects on fish stocks. The Union representing fish harvesters is calling on the federal government to immediately undertake adequate scientific work to understand the true impact seals are having off our coasts, and to ensure appropriate action is taken to repair the ecosystem imbalance. Video, graphics, and a lot of information, >click to read< 16:08
Coronavirus: Hundreds of fish harvesters gather to protest – Concerns include low crab prices, trip limits and lack of federal funding
More than 200 fish harvesters stood side by side Saturday afternoon,,, The atmosphere was tense as protestors filled the parking lot of the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union’s headquarters in St. John’s to express their displeasure with the union’s actions on issues like low crab prices, trip limits and lack of federal funding. The crab season is slated to start Monday. “What did you do about it? F–king nothing,” one protestor yelled at FFAW President Keith Sullivan. Petty Harbour harvester Ronnie Bidgood said the union has told harvesters they are trying to get better prices, but he believes it is impossible in the current financial climate. “There is no cruise ships, there is no big restaurants, nothing is opening up, nobody is buying any shellfish,” he said. “FFAW has done nothing for us.” photo’s, video clips, >click to read< 19:11
Letter: Fish harvesters deserve better – Jim Radford, St. John’s
Fish harvesters: are they entrepreneurs, employees or employers? They belong to the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW), which looks to me like an employees union. Now they want to form their own new union; that puzzles me because the title “union” has been captured by governments and organized groups of employees to act in negotiations between employees and employers. Why does it matter if they call FISH-NL a union, or something different? I think it is a matter of focus. Back to the first question, are they entrepreneurs? As a retired entrepreneur, I have always thought that an entrepreneur is a person or entity that has investment at risk for entrepreneurial gain. That is the bedrock of a free enterprise system. Great letter. Read the rest here 11:38
FISH-NL challenges FFAW to public debate
FISH-NL’s Ryan Cleary is challenging the leadership of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) to a public debate, in the latest salvo between the two groups vying to represent the province’s fish harvesters. “Fish harvesters deserve answers, honesty, and a clear vision for the future — not yet more FFAW lies and deception,” said FISH-NL president Ryan Cleary in a news release on Monday. “Most fish harvesters do not trust the FFAW, or, as the union is better known these days, the ‘saltwater mafia.’ Cleary wants a debate to quash what he calls the “smears and fear mongering” by the FFAW around several issues, including that FISH-NL supports an end to the northern cod stewardship fishery. “The union has mutated into a business that prospers as the fishery dies at its feet,” Cleary said. The FFAW is gaining the support of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour in its ongoing war of words with FISH-NL. Read the rest here 11:37
FISH-NL leaders on tour, 15 formal meetings scheduled
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH NL) will begin the first leg of a provincial tour this week, with dozens of stops in Labrador, the Great Northern Peninsula, and western Newfoundland. “We have 15 formal meetings scheduled with fish harvesters from Port Hope Simpson, Labrador to Burgeo, Newfoundland, but we’ll be looking to meet fish harvesters wherever they gather — on the wharves or stages, in their kitchens and community halls,” says Ryan Cleary, president of FISH-NL, who will lead the tour. FISH-NL’s membership drive began on Nov. 1, with more than 9,000 cards distributed to date around Newfoundland and Labrador by roughly 100 volunteers. The membership drive will distribute and collect cards, as well as hear from fish harvesters on their concerns. “There’s an electricity today in Newfoundland and Labrador, a stirring on the wharves and stages, in the coves and harbours that hasn’t been felt in modern times,” says Cleary. “Fish harvesters are taking a last stand for a fishing industry that has been brutalized by decades of failed management and poor leadership. The salt and pepper revolution is a fight for NL’s most endangered species — fishermen and women.” 13:47
Quality more important than quantity in cod fishing, says FFAW
Researchers with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) are working with fish harvesters to determine how to ensure cod caught in Newfoundland and Labrador is top quality. As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can attest, many can tell the difference between a great piece of cod and an average one. And the FFAW’s new project is aiming to close the gap between the two. Bill Broderick, the inshore director of the FFAW, told CBC’s The Broadcast that 32 harvesters have signed on for the project. He said fish harvesters need to ensure they catch quality cod because, these days, quality is more important than quantity. Read the rest here 09:47
Inshore Fishermen Frustrated with the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union – What Representation?!!
I want to express my displeasure and frustration with the Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union. My goal, along with the help of fellow fishers, is to prove that we, the inshore fishe
r people, are being misrepresented by the FFAW and seek an inquiry into the affairs of this union that represent the inshore fishers here. Problems and disagreements with the FFAW: Read the rest here 08:10
FFAW’s Keith Sullivan on what’s ahead for the fishery in 2015
Crab dumping lawsuit settled out of court
A lawsuit involving the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union and a fish plant on Random Island has been settled out of court. Golden Shell Fisheries sued the union after 200 fishermen dumped about 30,000 pounds of unprocessed crab off its wharf in Hickman’s Harbour in April 2013, during a price dispute. Read more here 10:11
Plant owners taking fisherman John Dean to court over spilled crab – Video
A fisherman is being taken to court by the owners of a fish plant in Hickman’s Harbour where thousands of pounds of crab were dumped into the water by protesting fishers back in April. more@cbcnews 11:42
Crab plant gets court order against fishermen
The company that runs a Random Island fish plant at the focus of a mass dumping of crab this week has obtained a court order against members of the fisheries union. About 200 fishermen protested at Golden Shell Fisheries in Hickman’s Harbour on Monday. continued
Newfoundland and Labrador crab fishermen discuss protests, prices with union – video
About two dozen crab fishermen from all over Newfoundland and Labrador had an emotional meeting with their union leader Tuesday morning in St. John’s. The harvesters want the Fish Food and Allied Workers’ union to help free them from provincial rules that state they can only sell their catch to buyers in this province. continued
