A move by the provincial government to open up opportunities in the crab fishery for export in order to increase competition seems to have had unintended consequences.

The FFAW says plant workers are facing severe economic hardship due to reduced hours this summer.

An outside buyers’ policy was created to allow harvesters to sell directly out of province, but the union says the Association of Seafood Producers is taking advantage of the policy by shipping product out of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Union President Dwan Street says plant workers are left with barely enough hours to survive. Many are staring down reduced benefits or even losing EI eligibility entirely.

Street says, in reality, inshore crab harvesters don’t have any more market access than they had previously, but the companies are having a heyday avoiding minimum processing requirements.

She’s calling for an immediate meeting with Fisheries Minister Lisa Dempster.