The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is not going down without a fight.
The upstart labour group recently welcomed a decision by the province’s Labour Relations Board to order a hearing into its application for certification.
“We’re one step closer to a vote,” says Ryan Cleary, president of FISH-NL.
Glenn Branton, CEO of the Labour Relations Board, wrote a notification in late May to all parties involved in FISH-NL’s application.
“The issue to be decided at the hearing will be which fishers should be included in the unit for the purpose of the Board deciding whether a certification vote should be held,” Branton wrote.
Dates for the hearing have yet to be set.
“The Board will be scheduling a pre-hearing teleconference with the parties and their legal counsel in order to prepare for the hearing and select hearing date(s),” Branton added.
On April 20 of this year, after a wait of nearly 16 months, the Labour Relations Board finally released a much-anticipated report into the quest of FISH-NL to trigger a certification vote with the aim of representing inshore fish harvesters.
However, the report’s findings might not have been the result FISH-NL was hoping for.
Submitted to the Labour Relations Board on Dec. 30, 2016, FISH-NL’s application for certification included membership cards signed by 2,372 inshore harvesters, collected over a two-month certification drive from more than 300 communities around Newfoundland and Labrador. The upstart labour group needed to sign up 40 per cent of the province’s inshore fishermen to trigger a vote away from the rival Fish, Food and Allied Workers union (FFAW).
Throughout the entire process, the FFAW maintained that its membership list contained around 10,000 harvesters and that FISH-NL never did sign up enough fishermen to trigger a vote — and it appeared the union was correct.
The FFAW said it continues to be troubled by some of the views being expressed by FISH-NL.
“Ryan Cleary and the FISH-NL leadership are now alleging that nearly 6,000 fish harvesters who meet the definition of fish harvester in legislation and pay union dues to FFAW-Unifor should not be considered a harvester. Essentially, Cleary is suggesting that all of these fish harvesters should have no one to represent them and should not qualify for fish harvester EI because they are not fish harvesters. This accusation leveled against fish harvesters by FISH-NL is beyond the pale,” The FFAW said in a press release.
“FISH-NL no longer contests FFAW-Unifor’s membership numbers; instead they want a new definition that suits their needs. Time and time again, FISH-NL and its leadership have demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of how the inshore fishery works and have shown a shocking contempt for those they now seek to represent. After 16 months of lies and manipulation, it is time to get back to focusing on solutions to the challenges facing our industry. Fish harvesters cannot let Cleary’s attacks on their legitimacy continue. These accusations are irresponsible and could have a serious impact on many fish harvesters and their families. We want to be perfectly clear — the definition of a fish harvester is set forth in legislation that has existed since the early 1970s. FFAW-Unifor members who receive a share of a catch in the fishery are fish harvesters and there are nearly 10,000 of you out there,” the union explained.
