Union & Committees to Meet with MPs on Early Retirement and E.I. Campaign

1/19/2005

Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW/CAW) President Earle McCurdy and the Union’s Early Retirement and Employment Insurance Committee will meet with Newfoundland and Labrador MPs tomorrow, January 20th, as part of the FFAW/CAW’s ongoing campaign to get an early retirement program for fishery workers and changes to the country’s E.I. system.

The Union officials will meet with Newfoundland’s two Conservative MPs at 10:30 a.m. at the FFAW/CAW offices at Steers Cove and with representatives from the Liberal caucus, including Natural Resources Minister John Efford, at 2 p.m. at Mr. Efford’s Regional Office.

Mr. McCurdy said the Union will be stressing the need for an early retirement program especially in light of the continued problems in the groundfish and crab processing industries which have been aggravated by the high Canadian dollar, cut-throat competition from China and uncertainty over crab quotas.

He noted that in response to heavy job loss in the Quebec textile industry which was related to the same global economic factors (the high Cdn. Dollar and overwhelming competition from China), the federal government committed $600 million to help that sector.

“This is the kind of intervention that we need government to make with respect to the fishing industry. Canada may not be able to do anything about the China juggernaut or may have limited control over the Canada/U.S. exchange rate, but it has a responsibility to respond to the needs of Canadian workers whose jobs have been undermined by these factors which are beyond their control,” said Mr. McCurdy.

On the issue of E.I., the Union will be pushing the MPs to work to ensure key recommendations made by the Human Resources Parliamentary Sub-Committee are implemented. Many of these recommendations have been what the FFAW/CAW has been proposing as ways to improve and modernize the E.I. Program. Some of the recommendations included reducing the number of qualifying hours to 360, eliminating the divisor system by basing a person’s benefit on their best 12 weeks worked in the previous year, and increasing the benefit rate to 66% of average earnings.

The FFAW/CAW Earle Retirement and Employment Insurance Committee is made up of: Allan Moulton, vice-president of the FFAW/CAW Industrial Section and chair of the FPI plant in Marystown; Irene Ploughman, union chair at Shawmut Fisheries in Witless Bay; Barry Randell, union chair at FPI Bonavista and Executive Board Member; Paul Kean, union chair at Beothic Fish Processors in Valleyfield and Executive Board Member; and Matt Kelly, Executive Board Member from FPI Port au Choix.

Seasonal industries such as the fishery which contributes more than $1 billion annually to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy and employs approximately 24,000 people, are critical to the economy of our province and the entire Atlantic region.

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