While the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has laid the groundwork to amend the Fishing Industry Collective Bargaining Act (FICBA), harvesters and processors are still working towards common ground.
Since 2006, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) have set the price of fish by way of the collective bargaining with the government providing a final judgement on pricing through the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel should negotiations fall through. Through this binding arbitration, both parties voluntarily relinquished their right to strike or lockout during the collective bargaining process.
The FFAW, however, indicated they may wish to return to the right to strike and lock out, and the government wasted no time in acting.
“Amendments to the FICBA were passed yesterday in the House of Assembly,” said a government of N.L. press release.
“Currently, pricing for fish species is set in Newfoundland and Labrador through either a negotiated agreement between the parties or through a binding arbitration process provided by the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel (the Panel). This process has been in effect since 2006. The amendments will see a return to a more traditional collective bargaining model whereby the right to strike and lockout will be reinstated.”
FFAW President Dwan Street, however, said the union may be content with keeping the status quo going into the future should harvesters and processors come to a mutually agreeable deal.
“A few folks pitched that we revisit the right to strike and go that route. From there, there were a lot of discussions, a lot of information gathered and then we pumped the brakes a little bit and said maybe that’s not the route we need to go,” said Street. “So, we said to government to hold on, because we need a little more time to think this through and discuss it.”
While at the annual general meeting of the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company, Street and FFAW Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle had a chance to sit down with ASP Executive Director Jeff Loder, where the two parties were able to discuss their next steps.
“Jeff and I both sent a joint letter to government requesting that we wait until the middle of January to meet with our respective groups and weigh our options — see if we couldn’t come to some consensus on where we wanted to go for the next season,” said Street.
“Government’s suggestion was — given that the house was open until the fourth — that they put the proposed amendments to the house, that they go through the readings on the fourth, but it wouldn’t go to royal assent unless myself and Jeff Loder as representatives of ASP and FFAW sign off to do so.”
Noting that the provincial government’s actions were pre-emptive in case both parties wanted to proceed to reinstate the right to strike and lockout, Street noted both parties may seek to work out a pricing formula for crab while reinstating the right to strike and lock out for other species.
“We’ve committed to our organization and ASP sitting down as soon as we get back now in the New Year and start negotiations for crab, because we think under the current system it might be better trying to revamp what we have and try to reach an agreement on a formula, because if we can do that it’s not going to matter if the panel is there, because we’re not going to need them anyway,” said Street.
“The route we’re going to take, ideally, is that none of these amendments ever go to royal assent or get actually enacted in FICBA. We’re hoping we can reach a formula; we have the bare bones from last year’s negotiations. We don’t think it worked for either side, really, but we do feel we have the bare bones framework to build something that might be better for both sides.”
