FFAW Responds to Ocean Choice International and Icewater Seafoods
August 21, 2019
08/21/2019
FFAW Responds to Ocean Choice International and Icewater Seafoods
August 21, 2019
ST. JOHN’S, NL – In response to a press release issued on Tuesday by Ocean Choice International (OCI) and Icewater Seafoods, FFAW-Unifor reaffirms our position relating to the cartel-like behaviour of some processing companies in Newfoundland and Labrador, who engaged in an illegal lock-out last week by refusing to purchase northern cod from fish harvesters. Actions taken by companies like OCI demonstrate zero good faith or interest in “improving collaboration within the local fishing industry.”
“It’s disingenuous for OCI to talk about improving jobs and the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador when the company takes every opportunity to undercut the inshore fishing industry and undermine workers’ rights,” says FFAW-Unifor President Keith Sullivan.
OCI uses their own factory freezer draggers to reduce work on land and ship out locally-caught fish for processing overseas. OCI and Icewater are actively lobbying the federal government to reverse the commitment to the first 115,000 metric tonnes of northern cod going to the inshore fishery. OCI has made it their priority to undermine efforts to rebuild the inshore northern cod fishery and recent actions expose the company’s agenda of preventing capacity-building in the inshore sector so that OCI draggers can step in once the stock has grown.
OCI, supported by their processing sector allies like Icewater Seafoods, has aggressively blocked progress on the creation of a processing safety sector councilwhich would address health and safety issues such as shellfish asthma, an occupational illness prevalent in fish plants around the province. On top of all this, OCI was recently found guilty of violating a collective agreement with FFAW-Unifor members.
OCI has not demonstrated a commitment to Newfoundland and Labrador workers and their families. In fact, the only family that has truly benefitted from the wealth of the resources harvested by OCI off our coast is the family that owns the company. OCI has tens of millions of pounds of quota and only a fraction of this fish is processed in Newfoundland and Labrador plants.
“Years of excessive processing exemptions, providing the bare-minimum number of hours of work to plant workers, all while blocking workers’ efforts to have occupational health and safety addressed is not what I would call a commitment to the people of this province,” says Sullivan.