The FFAW is hopeful that a reversal of the federal government’s changes to EI qualifying criteria is coming soon.

Union President Greg Pretty says 2023 was the worst crab season ever with a market collapse that forced harvesters to tie up for weeks in protest of the $2.20 a pound set by the Fish Price Setting Panel.

Pretty says topping that off were changes to EI qualifying criteria that will leave many harvesters and plant workers without an income for the year while others will have their benefits dry up long before the season starts again.

One of their members spoke with MP Churence Rogers this week who Pretty says indicated that the process is “chugging along, and we should hear something shortly.”