• SCOTTY ROBERTSON, IVICA VIDAS, BRAD TERRY, VAN MAOLE AND KEN FERGUSON (above) at work clearing the Britannia Heritage site in Steveston. DIANA VANDALE AND BOB GRAY (below) wrapping up Mike McGrath at the Maritime Labour Centre during their first aid course.
• SHOREWORKERS SHEHAZ PARMAR, ALLYSON WHITE AND MIA CHAMPAGNE catalogue research material at the T. Buck Suzuki environmental library in Vancouver on one of the projects in the UFAWU-operated emergency job program for fishing industry workers.
Emergency job program a massive success
Following demands from the UFAWU and the East Coast Food Fish and Allied Workers union in October demanding fair unemployment insurance for seasonal workers, Ottawa provided funds for an emergency response job program to help fish industry workers qualify for UI.
In the Emergency Response Fisheries Program (ERF) industry workers who do not have enough weeks to qualify for unemployment insurance are employed in a variety of projects until they have enough weeks.
Out of a total West Coast allotment of $3 million, Employment and Immigration Canada signed an initial contract with the union worth $300,000. The management, planning and administration of the project has all been done by members of the UFAWU.
"In just 7 weeks, from the
point of getting wet ink on paper, we've provided more than 551 ERF weeks of employment for over 190 people," said project manager Ryan Lake. Participants in the program are paid $225 per week for a 35 hour five day week.
Lake says the original contract signed with Employment and Immigration was to provide 800 ERF weeks of employment but that the need was so great the contract has been re-negotiated to 1200 weeks. "We expected it to be dropping off by now, but it's actually increasing," he said.
"We've done immeasurable good for our industry, our communities, our environment, and the individuals involved," Lake said.
Working with Lake are six assistant program managers and a bookkeeper. The assistant program managers are working out of Port Hardy,
Sointula, Nanaimo, Steveston, Ladner and Vancouver.
In Port Hardy, workers are involved in over 20 projects including clearing trails near the Quatse River hatchery and the Cluxewe River, restoring a heritage building in Coal Harbour, and cutting firewood for seniors.
Out of the Sointula office ERF participants are in 28 projects ranging from netmending classes, maintenance of the boat harbour, landscaping around the senior's home and clearing public trails in a wilderness area.
On the South Island, people are working on projects such as maintenance of the Nitnat hatchery, preparing Sooke harbour against the effects of an oil spill and clearing beaches in Ucluelet.
In Vancouver, people on the program have been studying first aid, working in the Suzuki
Foundation environmental library, and working in food banks and community centres.
The Steveston office, the nerve centre of the whole ERF program, beside providing central administration and bookkeeping for the program has assigned workers all through Richmond, Steveston and Ladner. Workers are cleaning up the Fraser estuary, restoring heritage sites, helping seniors, building a wildlife shelter and working on the Richmond re-cycling program.
To be eligible for the program, a participant must:
• be a fishing industry worker who has worked a minimum of six weeks in the fishery this year or;
• have worked three weeks in the fishery in the current year and have qualified for UI solely in the fishery the previous year or;
• in the case of new entrants,
fishermen or plant workers must have twelve weeks to qualify.
Part of the work of the assistant managers, who develop projects and assign workers, is to screen applicants to determine if they are qualified to enter the ERF program.
"In the process ot screening we've found people who had been rejected for UI under the old rules, and weren't aware that they were now eligible to apply for benefits," said Warren Hunter, assistant program manager in the Vancouver office.
Anyone who wishes to register as a participant or propose a project may call the ERF office at 241-9461 in Richmond or 255-3171 in Vancouver. In Port Hardy call 949-7436, Sointula 973-6501 and Nanaimo 753-2944. The program runs to Mar. 29.
Union opposed to proposed Barnston Island cable ferry
Fishermen and tow boat operators on the Fraser River are alarmed at a Department of Highways proposal to install a cable ferry to Barnston Island.
The island in the Fraser River is now served by a tug and barge ferry.
"They certainly didn't consider the fishermen when they decided to put this thing in," said UFAWU Fort Langley local president Joe Smith. "We're opposed to it and the tow boat industry is opposed to it too."
Fort Langley local member Ross Wetzel is co-ordinating a drive to block construction of the cable driven ferry.
A set of anchor cables will be permanently fixed across the bottom of the river, rising up to guide the ferry. Another cable will pass through the ferry's drive mechanism to move it across the river.
"Every time they move the thing, those cables will rise up off the bottom," Wetzel said. "I don't think even a dead-head will be able to drift down the river, much less a gillnet. It'll be horrendous for fishing if they put in the cable ferry."
The proposal must be approved by the Harbours Board and the Navigation and Safety Branch of the Coast Guard before it can go ahead.
Wetzel hopes to meet highways minister Rita Johnson to explain fishermen's and tow-boat operator's opposition to the cable ferry.
"They have a crew on the ferry they've got there now," Wetzel said. "With the new one, there'll be only one guy operating the whole thing. How will he be able to watch the cars on deck, the radar and run the ferry at the same time?"
Wetzel doesn't think that the scheme proposed to warn marine traffic that the ferry is crossing the river will be enough to guarantee safety. "All they're going to have is a red light on the shore telling
you to stop if the ferry's crossing, or a green light saying its clear," he said.
UFAWU Fraser Valley Organizer John Sutcliffe is amazed that the highways department has proceeded with designs and plans for the ferry without thinking of the other users of the river.
"How the government can go so far and to such an expense without consulting the affected parties is beyond me," Sutcliffe said. "They say the cable ferry is considered because it will be the cheapest kind of ferry, but it may turn out to be a total waste of money because the project is impractical.
• SUTCLIFFE
"It's hard to imagine how they could have gone in this deep without considering the costs to other people of interfering with fishing and towing," he said.
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THE FISHERMAN / JANUARY 21,1991 • 3