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Labour Board Report Confirms FFAW Membership Numbers

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Labour Board Report Confirms FFAW Membership Numbers
April 20, 2018
04/20/2018

St. John’s, NL – Today the Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Relations Board released a report for comment to FFAW and FISH-NL on the Board’s investigation into FISH-NL’s application to represent inshore fish harvesters. The results of the investigation confirmed the membership numbers presented to the Board by FFAW. In light of this report, FFAW is calling for the immediate dismissal of FISH-NL’s application to the board due to insufficient support.

“The report presented to us by the labour board confirms that FISH-NL does not have adequate support and their application should be dismissed without delay,” said Keith Sullivan, President of FFAW.

The investigation by the Labour Relations Board is comprehensive and its results are beyond dispute. While FISH-NL supplied no information in support of its allegation of 4500 fish harvesters, FFAW provided detailed membership information to the Board to account for the Union’s claim of between 9,000 and 10,000 members. The cumulative summary showed that the investigating officer matched 9,458 names with correspondence from fish buyers to the 2015 and 2016 membership lists supplied to the investigating officer by FFAW.

According to the report, if the Labour Relations Board accepted that every card signed by FISH-NL was in good order, which FFAW believes is not the case, then FISH-NL would have only signed up 25.1% of fishers.

“For more than a year FISH-NL has misrepresented our industry, slandered the good work of the Union and its members, and impeded progress on issues of tremendous importance to the inshore fishery. After a very thorough investigation by the Labour Relations Board, we believe it is time to dismiss this application and get back to focusing on the serious challenges facing our fishery.”

Both parties have until next Wednesday, April 25th, to provide comment on the investigation report. The report will then by submitted to the Labour Relations Board for consideration.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Courtney Glode, FFAW Communications
709-743-4445
cglode@ffaw.net

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Dr. Erin Carruthers

Dr. Erin Carruthers is the Science Director and Senior Fisheries Scientist with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor), which is the labour union that represents the owner-operator fleet in Newfoundland and Labrador. The FFAW is committed to research and management that supports healthy oceans, fisheries, and coastal communities. Dr. Carruthers received her Ph. D. in Biology from Memorial University in 2011 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research. Before coming to Newfoundland, Erin worked as a Research Biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the St. Andrews Biological Station. Her current research program is co-constructed with fish harvesters and includes research on coastal fishing communities, collaborative longline and trap surveys, and best practices for the avoidance, handling and release of unwanted catch.