A rival fisheries union is disbanding after three years of trying to raid the established union—the FFAW.
The Labour Relations Board says there are over 10,000 inshore harvesters, but FISH-NL believes there are only about 6,400 or 6,500.
They have several thousand harvesters signed up, but say they have no chance of getting 40 per cent of 10,000 to force the required union vote.
Cleary says Ball Govt not fighting for inshore fishery in favour of aquaculture model most countries run away from pic.twitter.com/Qhv0KjYt7Q
— Brian Madore (@bmadorevocm) December 3, 2019
President Ryan Cleary says the FFAW has lost its way, and is operating in all kinds of conflicts of interest. He is also critical of the Ball Liberal government, saying they prefer the status quo which benefits only a few.
He tells inshore harvesters to keep fighting – status quo works only for a few pic.twitter.com/4JDUOXYpYn
— Brian Madore (@bmadorevocm) December 3, 2019
Cleary says the labour movement—particularly the Federation of Labour—is unable to police itself.
Cleary says they are out of money and that there are no refunds to give. His salary on paper was $60,000 but he often went without a pay cheque.
Cleary also condemns Fed of Labour. Says FFAW in many conflicts of interest. pic.twitter.com/NfhPvYahKy
— Brian Madore (@bmadorevocm) December 3, 2019
FFAW says Time to Move On from FISH-NL “Chaos”
The FFAW says they are happy to hear news that FISH-NL will be dissolved following their latest membership drive.
President Keith Sullivan addressed media earlier this afternoon. He says for close to four years FISH-NL campaigned on division and misinformation, which he says has been a “difficult, bruising process.”
Keith Sullivan says they are very happy that the campaign has come to and end and they are ready to move forward. He says this has been a hard "bruising process" @FFAW_Unifor @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/SL7UCJ1gzt
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) December 3, 2019
However, Sullivan says more and more fish harvesters have been seeing past all that, and are now ready to move on.
He says they need to address the division and move forward, united for the betterment of the industry.
Sullivan says he has heard the concerns of FISH-NL supporters over the last number of years and wants to work with them.
He says they are stronger when they work together, and that they can achieve much more success that way. He looks forward to speaking with harvesters in the coming days.