Ice Compensation, Extended EI Needed

5/15/2008

FFAW/CAW President Earle McCurdy has called on the federal government to pay extended Employment Insurance benefits, or the equivalent, to fish harvesters on the northeast coast of the province who have been kept ashore by heavy ice conditions.

Mr. McCurdy said the persistent ice in some areas of the province has caused “severe hardship” for many families.

He described the problem this year as “not nearly as widespread as it was last year, but it’s just as tough on the affected families”.

He said the heavy ice conditions have eased up in most areas of the province, but the problem remains persistent in localized areas.

In 2007, the federal government set aside $7.9 million for a special ice compensation program in areas affected by the heavy ice conditions last spring. Eligible recipients were paid $377 per week - the average of fishing E.I. payments.

Similar programs had been implemented in 1974 and 1990 when unusually heavy ice conditions caused a delay in the start-up of the fishery.

Mr. McCurdy said many families have been a month without any income in the household. He said what is really needed is greater flexibility in the E.I. regulations to deal with acts of nature such as these ice conditions.

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