Tag Archives: Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador
OCI granted injunction as fishermen block out-of-province crab
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has granted Ocean Choice International an injunction ending the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union’s blockade on the highway near South Brook. The injunction prohibits FFAW members from blocking the route to OCI’s processing plant in Triton or interfering with customers or contractors entering the property. It’s the latest development in an argument between the union and Association of Seafood Producers over whether the fishery should be up and running during the COVID-19 pandemic. Union members blocked two fishing vessels from the Magdalen Islands from offloading crab in Port aux Basques on Sunday evening. >click to read< Protesters Who Blocked Out-of-Province Crab Shipment Facing Court Injunction, tweets, >click to read< 18:04
Government will review Supreme Court order on $250M Placentia Bay project: minister
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador on Thursday overturned the provincial government’s decision to release a quarter-billion dollar salmon farming project in Placentia Bay from further environmental assessment. Justice Gillian Butler ruled on July 20 that Perry Trimper, then the environment and climate change minister, “lacked jurisdiction” to release the project from a full environmental assessment, and that an environmental impact statement had to be completed. The impact statement would have required an ecosystem and population study of the wild salmon in Placentia Bay, as well as a contingency plan and extensive public consultation. click here to read the story 09:56
Letter: Fish union failing members on crucial issues
I wish to respond to Lana Payne’s June 24th column (“Austerity should be on trial”). I have no problem with the opinion piece — austerity, no doubt, had a hand in the recent tragic high-rise fire in London, England. But while austerity should be on trial in Europe, FFAW-Unifor was actually before the courts right here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Payne, Unifor’s Atlantic director, ignored the elephant on the wharf — as has the province’s Federation of Labour and every other union leader in the province, and country. It’s unprecedented for a Canadian union to have deceived its members, which is exactly what happened with scallop harvesters in the Strait of Belle Isle. click here to read the letter 19:48
FISH-NL calls on FFAW President Keith Sullivan to apologize to members
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on Keith Sullivan, president of the FFAW-Unifor, to publicly apologize to his members after an appeal court ruled in favour of scallop harvesters who were deceived by the union. Further, FISH-NL is calling for the resignation of Dave Decker, the union’s secretary-treasurer, who was in charge of the funding, as well as the firing of Jason Spingle, the FFAW staff representative who helped orchestrate the deal. “It’s practically unheard of for a union to be convicted in court of misrepresenting its membership,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “Inshore harvesters have been saying for years that the FFAW no longer speaks for them — that the union is failing its membership — and this latest court decision proves that.” click here to read the press release 15:59
FISH-NL applauds appeal court decision reaffirming FFAW failed its membership
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) applauds an appeal court decision today reaffirming the FFAW failed its membership. The union had appealed a March, 2016 Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ruling in favour of scallop fishermen who took the union to court over a compensation fund for lost fishing grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. In the unanimous ruling handed down today, the three judges with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Court of Appeal, found that the “FFAW was clearly acting outside its usual role and did not appreciate the full implications of its behaviour.” Click here to read the press release 14:54
Is John Risely out to gut Ocean Choice International like a fish? By Ryan Cleary
Nova Scotian John Risley who led a hostile takeover of Fishery Products International in 2001 that led to the company’s demise and the loss of hundreds of rural jobs — appears to be attempting another such takeover. This time of Newfoundland and Labrador-based Ocean Choice International — which bills itself as Canada’s “largest wild fish quota holder,” including highly lucrative snow crab, shrimp, scallops, cod, and turbot. If Risley succeeds he could potentially do to OCI what he did to FPI — gut it like a fish. I say that Risley is no friend of Newfoundland and Labrador, and if he gets his hands on OCI’s quotas the Grand Banks will be sold off to the highest bidder.Ryan Cleary is a former Newfoundland and Labrador MP, long-time journalist, and leader of FISH-NL, a group attempting to represent the province’s fish harvesters in a break-away union from the FFAW. Read the full piece, click here 22:21
Legal dispute causing tension between fishing crews in Strait of Belle Isle
A fisherman from Flower’s Cove says the legal dispute over who will benefit from a scallop compensation fund is causing tension in the Strait of Belle Isle area. “Me, I got no bad friends with anyone, but you knows it’s drawing some tension between families and crews,” said Jarvis Walsh. Walsh was in St. John’s to observe the trial in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. Read the rest here 10:26
‘Shafted’ by FFAW, Flowers Cove fisherman tells court
A fish harvester from Flowers Cove says he feels “shafted” by his union because of the terms of a compensation fund negotiated with Nalcor, to offset the loss of scallop grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle. Edmund Moores is one of 71 people who are suing the union, in a trial that continued Wednesday in the . The Fish, Food and Allied Workers argues that the $2,590,875 should be paid out in annual installments over 30 years. The court has been told they believed the money would be paid out in a lump sum. Read the article here 08:27
