Fish Farmer Workers Join Steel

Steelworkers win first-ever certification of farm fish processing facilities

PORT HARDY, BC, April 11 /CNW/ - Fish processing plant and cold storage workers have joined Canada’s largest private sector union. Late last week the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) granted the United Steelworkers’

Local 1-2171 the legal right to represent some 160 employees at Pan Fish Group (Omega Salmon Group).

The certification marks the Steelworkers’ first-ever presence in the farm fish processing industry. On Vancouver Island there are over 500 workers employed in the processing part of the industry, which is largely non-union.

Local 1-2171 president Darrel Wong welcomes the new members into the union and says the Steelworkers look forward to holding elections for the plant committee, negotiating committee and health and safety committee representatives.

“We are very pleased that the workers at Pan Fish have decided to join our union,” says Wong. “There are some serious issues that must be addressed including fair treatment of workers by their employer and dignity on the job.”

The first phase of the organizing campaign began in February 2004, when the local union was part of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA Canada). The union applied for certification in December 2004, some three months after the merger of IWA Canada and the Steelworkers on September 1, 2004. The ballot box was closed by the BCLRB until late last week.

“Workers in this growing industry have long required proper representation when it comes to wages, working conditions and health and safety conditions,” says Wong. “We congratulate the workers for taking the necessary steps to join the Steelworkers and we look forward to working with them. This is just the start of our union’s organizing drive on the coast of British Columbia. We intend to reach out to organize workers throughout the entire fish farming and processing industries.”

The United Steelworkers represents more than 255,000 men and women in every sector of Canada’s economy.

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