We’re on the cusp of a provincial election, and inshore fish harvesters and plant workers, and the thousands of others dependent upon this work, have again endured an election campaign where their issues were not addressed or debated. This is negligent, particularly since there’s an unspoken tenor that this election is judging the economic value of rural life in this province. When the public and pundits debate who needs to sacrifice in these difficult economic times, it is rural Newfoundland and Labrador that is often the target.
The coastal communities of rural N.L. — which is most of rural N.L. — revolve around the fisheries. The industry is worth more than a billion dollars to these communities, and the province, every year, and employs more than any other sector. It is also entirely run by the private sector. Fish harvesters, processing companies, trucking companies, dockside monitors, boat builders and marine retailers all pay provincial taxes and directly impact the prosperity of our province.
In between videos of campaign buses and elbow bumps the fishery has been ignored. The inshore fishery has long suffered from benign neglect at the provincial and federal level and this provincial election campaign has highlighted that fact. There has not been one tangible commitment made by either the Progressive Conservative or Liberal parties to improve the inshore fishery of this province. This is despite the fact that the fishery did much better during the pandemic than any other private sector in our province.
In between videos of campaign buses and elbow bumps the fishery has been ignored.
What candidates and party leaders fail to understand is that the inshore fishery is full of potential and untapped opportunity for the financial stability of the province. A recent headline in Seafood Source, a leading trade publication, stated “U.S. retailers notched record seafood sales in 2020” with an analyst in the article stating, “the seafood category is on fire.”
So why are our political parties content to smother that flame that should be bursting from our inshore fishery? Why has the provincial government allowed our processing sector to be dominated by three companies, one of which is owned by the government of Greenland? One only has to look at how processing companies lined their pockets with snow crab revenue that rightfully belonged to harvesters to understand that killing wharf competition and allowing extreme corporate consolidation endangers our sector.
We have asked the PC and Liberal parties to endorse a second price reconsideration for our collective bargaining system but have received no commitment. We have asked the PC and Liberal parties to commit to enacting legislation to punish processing companies from engaging in controlling agreements that threaten the viability of rural N.L. — such agreements will soon be forbidden under federal regulation — and have received no commitment.
It stands to reason that our provincial leaders do not understand that the province is the largest holder of fishing quota and that they lease this quota out to large processing companies, who then fish it and process very little of it in this province. Without firm commitments from all parties, our greatest resource will continue to be under threat by large corporations.
This election, our membership in the inshore fishery, their families, and their communities, sought firm commitments from our leaders to guide us all towards economic recovery. Instead, we were met with vague statements and no engagement on key issues of socioeconomic importance to our 13,000 members in over 500 coastal communities. Fish, Food and Allied Workers members deserve better and will continue to be vocal and persistent in holding the government to account past election day.
Keith Sullivan, president,
Robert Keenan, secretary-treasurer
FFAW-Unifor
