‘Let me call it what it is: free crab’
Crab harvesters won’t fish unless market share improves
CORNER BROOK — While harvesters have been demanding more free enterprise, Glen Winslow contends it’s “free” product processors are after.
Winslow is a member of Ffaw-unifor’s inshore council and bargaining committee, but he is also a fishing enterprise owner from St. John’s.
He participated in a union press conference on Wednesday, April 10, about the ongoing delayed start to the 2024 snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The season was scheduled to start April 6, but harvesters are refusing to fish for a pricing formula put forth by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) and accepted by the province’s Standing Fish Price-setting Panel.
Harvesters say the ASP formula, which has a minimum price of $2.60 per pound, won’t give harvesters their fair share of the market even as prices increase throughout the season.
QUALITY ISSUES
Winslow offered an inside glimpse into the negotiations between Ffaw-unifor and the ASP that attempted to avoid a pricing dispute causing another delay in starting the crab fishery.
Harvesters, upset with the ASP price offer selected by the panel a year ago, refused to fish until six weeks into the 2023 season.
Winslow said it is important to first understand what happened in 2023. He said the offer made by Ffawunifor a year ago was closer to the actual market price and should have been the one the panel selected, yet the panel chose the ASP’S offer.
This year, said Winslow, the ASP’S different offers never changed on price. He said the association was only interested in negotiating deductions for quality issues — such as barnacles, critically weak crab, leech eggs, overfilled pans and temperature issues — that would just drive the prices down further.
These quality issues, Winslow said, are the result of there being fewer plants open, with fewer workers to process crab.
“This business model works great for processors,” he said. “Less plants, workers and 7,247 less jobs, with millions of dollars in savings and salaries to companies. But this business model is terrible for harvesters.”
There are also scheduling pressures placed by fish companies on harvesters regarding trip limits and wait times for their product to be processed after they’ve returned from sea.
“This created quality issues and ASP had the audacity in negotiations to blame this on harvesters, looking for quality deductions, financial penalties, when most of these issues were caused by corrupt greed and fish processors and our business model,” said Winslow. “Let me call it what it is: free crab.”
NEARLY A DEAL
The Ffaw-unifor offer that was rejected by the panel was based on a pricing formula recommended by the commission chaired by Glen Blackwood and appointed by the provincial government to try to prevent another tie-up like the one in 2023.
Winslow said he thought the union and the ASP might finally have an agreement in early March 2024.
“Both parties were essentially at a Blackwood formula, but the ASP would not give up on these demands to get free crab from harvesters, thus getting crab for a lower price,” said Winslow.
He said the union was expecting the provincial government to announce it was mandating the Blackwood formula to ensure the crab fishery started.
However, that did not happen. Instead, the provincial government amended legislation on March 26 that required the panel to choose either a formula proposed by the ASP or one suggested by the union.
The union claims its proposal is based on historical market shares, while the ASP’S proposal has nothing to do with historical trends.
“As if it didn’t get bad enough, the panel decision changed our historical market share – what the Blackwood report was based on — and capped our future shares at 37 per cent … costing harvesters millions of dollars in the future and putting millions of dollars in fish companies’ pockets,” said Winslow.
‘GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED’
Winslow said he is disappointed Premier Andrew Furey’s administration, after commissioning the Blackwood Report to address the issues in the fishery, did not follow through and implement that report’s recommendations.
“This problem that we have won’t be fixed this year. It’s going to take a couple of years … but we’re prepared because we always roll with the punches.” Greg Pretty Ffaw-unifor president
“This government has failed the business community of Newfoundland and Labrador, has failed rural Newfoundland, has failed to protect plant workers’ jobs and failed to fix this for harvesters in 2024,” said Winslow. “If the premier had announced the Blackwood formula, harvesters would be fishing today and plant workers would be working in plants.”
LONG-TERM FIX NEEDED
Ffaw-unifor president Greg Pretty said this dispute is not just about a base price, but rather a system that is built to work against fish harvesters, plant workers and coastal communities, and harvesters will continue to refuse to fish for anything less than their fair share.
“This problem that we have won’t be fixed this year,” said Pretty. “It’s going to take a couple of years … but we’re prepared because we always roll with the punches.
“But the situation here is, unless we get the fair market share, we will continue to suffer, the industry will continue to suffer, plant workers will continue to suffer and the communities which are so dependent on our industry are being disadvantaged by ASP members.”
The union says the ASP offer is not based on historical sharing arrangements, has no provision for increasing harvesters’ share with an increasing market and has no ability to recoup value with market changes.
The ASP, meanwhile, announced it will hold a press conference to provide its own update on the latest fisheries issues on Thursday, April 11.
MORE PROTESTS?
In March 2024, harvesters gathered in St. John’s for demonstrations, demanding more free enterprise in the fishing industry as a whole.
Their efforts, which caused a delay in the provincial government being able to bring down its 2024 budget, resulted in harvesters getting a commitment from the province to take measures that would allow outside buyers and increase processing capability.
John Efford Jr., the leader of that demonstration, also took part in the union’s press conference and said harvesters are fed up with the level of control processors have over the industry.
“There’s an inner circle within the ASP that is controlling everything. … We’re done with control. We’re finished with control,” he said.
After the news conference, Efford indicated on social media that there could be more protests if harvesters do not get the fair market share for snow crab that they are demanding.