The FFAW is calling for transparency and accountability in the operation of the Fish Harvesters Resource Centre – a non-profit organization that provides dockside monitoring services to fish harvesters in the province.

Union president Dwan Street says the FRC has not allowed the FFAW to reappoint new board members or hold a meeting to discuss its operations and financial situation despite the fact that the union is entitled to five of the board’s 11 seats.

Since last spring, says Street, the FRC has refused to engage with the union, and has only conducted communications through legal representation.

“Some board members came to us with concerns months ago about not being able to get their hands on meeting minutes, the bylaws of the organization. And also with a concern that there were two individuals appointed to the Board of Directors, and they had no idea what that process looked like, and how those individuals ended up on the board.”

Those two individuals include David Decker and Bill Broderick, former employees of the FFAW, but who are sitting independently. She says the union is trying to secure a meeting with the FRC’s Board of Directors.

“We’ve appointed myself and four new executive board members to try and get a meeting with the FRC to ask those questions and hopefully get some of this cleared up” says Street, “because we want to make sure that when it’s our members and our members’ money involved, that the organization is operating in their best interest.”