The FFAW is accusing the Association of Seafood Producers of prioritizing the export of “massive quantities of snow crab” over the livelihoods of local plant workers.
The union says despite stable crab landings, many processing plants are operating at “historically low capacities” leaving workers with less than half of their usual hours during peak crab season.
The FFAW is pointing to companies like Quinlan Brothers and Ocean Choice International, who it claims are trucking “significant volumes of snow crab out of the province.”
FFAW President Dwan Street charges it’s not a capacity issue, but a corporate control issue, and she is calling for urgent provincial oversight of sales reporting to address “suppressed prices and growing disparities” between Newfoundland and Labrador and the Maritime provinces.
