Above: (L-R) ASP Executive Director Jeff Loder, ASP Chair Paul Grant, FFAW President Greg Pretty and FFAW Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle. Photo by Nick Travis
In a rare instance of solidarity, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) recently held a joint meeting to announce their cooperation for the 2023 snow crab season.
FFAW President Greg Pretty and Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle, alongside ASP Executive Director Jeff Loder and Chair Paul Grant, sat down to discuss their plan going forward in a press conference at the Capital Hotel in St. John’s, N.L.
“There’s one thing that we are both prioritizing as we gear up for the 2023 fishery and that is ensuring that this extremely important crab fishery runs as smoothly as possible for all involved stakeholders,” said Pretty. “That’s why our organizations are here together today announcing a commitment to work together, addressing the challenges like pricing, scheduling, trip limits before the crab fishery actually gets underway.”
This cooperative tone comes in the wake of an estimated $100-million loss for processors in 2022, according to Grant. While the year started out strong, with quotas for crab up 32 per cent and a price of $7.60 per pound, ASP indicated in May that production was to be limited as the U.S. market dried up, leaving approximately 30 per cent of crab sitting in cold storage.
According to both parties, with new faces at their respective top spots comes an opportunity to turn over a new leaf. Pretty was voted in as FFAW’s newest President on January 5. Loder, at the time of the conference, had been Executive Director of ASP for just over two weeks.
“We have new leadership on both sides,” said Grant. “We have Jeff Loder, our new Executive Director at ASP and Greg Pretty, the new President of the FFAW, and we have a new lens on how we can approach the collective bargaining process. We can’t let history overshadow the future of the fishery for the province.”
Both parties noted that given Newfoundland and Labrador’s massive crab fishery, valued at over $1 billion, a new strategy is needed for the province. The organizations intend to work together on a price-setting formula, while also indicating that they don’t seek to work around the provincial price-setting panel.
“We’re not trying to surpass anything. FOS (Final Offer Selection) is there, if this falls apart, we have FOS in all its glory,” said Pretty.
ASP noted that moving the inventory it’s already sitting on, while also gearing up to move the incoming 2023 harvest, is a huge challenge.
“What we’re going through here, just to put it in simple terms, is a big reset,” said Grant. “This market for snow crab climbed to unprecedented heights, and it was very good for both sides, but now I guess what goes straight up usually comes straight down, and that’s what we’re dealing with.”
Formal talks between ASP and the FFAW began Monday, January 20. With the 2023 crab season fast approaching, both parties have committed to finding a solution that works for processors, harvesters, and the province as a whole.
“There’s a rich history between both of our organizations, and things have happened in the past. We’re going to leave all of that in the past, and we’re going to focus on what is a serious public policy problem for this province,” said Loder. “The more time we waste in exchanges that are not focused on that; it’s not fair to the province, it’s not fair to our memberships. And that is the commitment we’re making — we’re going to get to the table, and we’re going to figure this out.”
