Filipino temp workers idled by impasse between Newfoundland seafood union and plant owners

Twenty Filipinos were brought to Newfoundland and Labrador to work in a crab plant but are sidelined by stalemated bargaining between seafood workers union and plant owners. CBC

Twenty Filipinos are among hundreds of people sidelined by the stalemated bargaining between the Fish Food and Allied Workers and the Association of Seafood Producers in Canada’s province of Newfoundland and Labrador

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The Filipinos were brought to Newfoundland and Labrador to work in a crab plant. The St. John’s, Newfoundland-based Work Global Canada, which handled their hiring said they are in comfortable accommodations.

The Filipino temporary foreign workers arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador from Taiwan over the past month, recruited by Work Global Canada to work for a Hickman’s Harbour processing plant.

Work Global Canada Vice-President Wanda Cuff Young told VOCM.com that there are no plans to send them back to the Philippines as they are looking at other opportunities for employment.  She said, however, that both local and foreign workers are feeling the strain.

Crab boats in Newfoundland and Labrador have been idle this season, with harvesters refusing to fish for $2.20 per pound of crab, the figure set by the province’s price-setting panel. A tentative deal between the fisheries union and plant owners fell apart on Saturday when it was rejected by harvesters, CBC News reported.