ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A date has finally been set for the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador’s (FISH-NL) hearing before the province’s labour relations board.
In a release on Wednesday, July 4, FISH-NL said the hearing will go ahead on Aug. 20.
It will be held at the former School for the Deaf at 425 Topsail Rd. in St. John’s, beginning at 9 a.m.
The release also noted St. John’s lawyer David Goodland, an expert in local labour law, has been hired to represent FISH-NL.
The organization submitted its certification application to represent inshore fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador in December 2016, a move that would ultimately break them away from the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor) union.
It will all comes down to numbers.
FISH-NL needs the support of 50 per cent of inshore fish harvesters in the province to trigger a certification vote.
During the organization’s membership drive, the groups signed up 2,372 harvesters.
Since then, the debate has centred around the actual number of inshore harvesters in the province and whether FISH-NL signed up enough members to hold a vote.
