Over the course of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union’s (FFAW’s) 14th annual constitutional convention in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, a new captain was appointed to helm the union.
Dwan Street, who has been with the union in several positions over the last decade, was elected as the newest president of the FFAW over the course of the summer — the first female to hold the position in its 50-year history.
Street, having just arrived back from Gander, called the process of stepping into the union’s top role “surreal,” and highlighted the positive energy she witnessed in Gander.
“I’ve been through a few conventions now, and the energy at this one was amazing. For the first time, we actually had a waitlist of folks who wanted to attend. Usually we have vacancies,” said Street. “The ones who need to rest are the admin team in our office. They pooled together an amazing convention, and those people are workhorses.”
Besides her new presidential role, many new faces have also been elected to the FFAW’s executive board. According to Street, the union’s members have made it loud and clear that it was time for new ideas and fresh faces in their leadership.
“Just the number of executive seats on the board that turned over. I don’t want to be ageist, but younger folks stepping in with fresh ideas and a lot of folks representing different fleet sectors even on the industrial side is really good,” said Street.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces and two new vice presidents. It’s definitely changed, and people wanted change, and I think we’ve got it this time.”
In speaking of some of her priorities as president, Street said she doesn’t think the union has been “loud enough” in advocating for the change they want to see in the fishery. She said that under her tenure, she intends to not take “no” for an answer.
“We’ve had protests on the hill for the past few years, but it just seems we go to the hill, make a few speeches and then get on the bus and we go away. I don’t personally feel like we’ve done enough to hold government accountable,” said Street.
“When I was growing up, I remember FFAW protests. I remember the buildings being occupied. You didn’t go to the hill, make speeches and leave, you went to the hill and you stayed until something gave. Now, are we going to achieve everything that we want? Probably not. But we’re going to give it a good fight.”
In the past years, there has been internal fracturing between the union’s membership and staff, especially in the run up to the N.L. snow crab season. Elements within the FFAW membership have broken away to form their own non-union protests, leaving many feeling that the organization is not listening to its membership. Street said she has noticed this drop in union solidarity, and as president she hopes to give the members a stronger voice within the FFAW.
“Any member — I want them to reach out. Reach out to their staff reps, send me an email, drop me a text or give me a call and tell me what’s important to them,” said Street.
“This union belongs to the membership, and I feel like for a long time everything has been kind of top-down. I don’t want to operate like that. I want the membership to own this union, to run this union and to inform us on what we need to be doing. It’s going to take a bit of time to whip everything into shape and I hate to say ‘right the ship,’ because I think the past executive board did do a lot of good work, but it was definitely time for change. We’re going to change how we operate things, and hopefully that brings a sense of optimism and comfort for the membership and makes them feel proud to be members of the FFAW.”
