The FFAW is accusing Ocean Choice International of failing to provide adequate work for employees at the groundfish plant in Fortune.
The union says some 50 workers have been left without enough weeks to file for Employment Insurance benefits to get them through the year.
FFAW staff representative Johan Joensen tells VOCM he was in Fortune on Wednesday to speak with worried workers.
“So far this year that plant has probably only been in operation for eight weeks, in the February-March period, when they did primarily redfish, but not everything went as well as the company had hoped,” says Joensen.
“in the past there was an exemption on exports of yellowtail (flounder) that were too small for processing locally, in return for 15 weeks of work in the plant in Fortune. But so far this year they’re only up to eight weeks.”
OCI president Blaine Sullivan confirms redfish hasn’t proven economical due to their small size, adding that yellowtail catch rates have been poor and disappointing.
However, Sullivan says the company is working on solutions for what he says is a small number of workers who don’t yet qualify for EI.
“Most people down there have qualified with their weeks, I think about 95 per cent,” he said. “In fact, there’s only three people that we’re still trying to work with to make sure they have enough weeks this season.”