The
Washington coniie •
Free trade means B.C. processors get easy access to cheap U.S. labour an^e while retaining a firm grip on west coast canned salmon production.
Five bucks an hour with no benefits is the norm
SHOREWORKER Doug McKee makes just over $5 an hour working for Lummi Indian Processing Ltd., less than an hour's drive from Vancouver, close to Bellingham, Wash.
"It's really tough to get by," said McKee, who provides the major income for a family of four. His wife Joanna brings in some extra income from time to time making custom furniture in her at-home workshop.
"Luckily housing is cheap," he said, glancing around the interior of their tiny house on a small lot at Gooseberry Point. "We pay just over $200 per month for the house and the workshop."
Free trade now allows B.C. seafood companies to ship raw salmon south to low-wage nonunion plants in Washington state. The reasons are many: cheap labour, scab workers during strikes and easy access to new U.S. markets. Whatever the reason, B.C. workers lose out.
During the UFAWU summer strike there were persistent rumours of Canadian salmon being trucked south to Lummi. McKee said that on three occasions, about 100,000 pounds of poor quality salmon arrived in mysterious totes. "It was pretty rotten stuff, right at the time of the strike, but we never really knew where it came from," said McKee.
Lummi Processing pays a starting rate of $5 an hour, typical of most non-union fish processing plants in Washington. The rate goes up to $5.25 an hour after 160 hours. By comparison,
a shoreworker at B.C. Packers Steveston plant gets $13.55 an hour after 400 hours, complete with a 37-page benefit package.
Lummi workers get no benefits. They are paid time and a half after eight hours and on Sundays. Call out is not based on seniority, nor are workers guaranteed a minimum number of hours when called out — it may be for just an hour or two of work.
"I used to have a good union job driving bus in Seattle at $14 an hour," he said, "but there's no union jobs around here."
Mike Collins, business agent for Teamsters Local 231 in Bellingham, confirmed that $4.50 to $5 an hour is typical for nonunion fish processing. "There are only a couple of union plants in this part of Washington — we've got Bellingham Cold Storage and the United Food and Commercial Workers has Bornstein Seafoods — the rest are non-union," he said.
Bellingham Cold Storage managed to impose a two-tiered wage system that has new employees working for about 10 percent less than workers hired before 1985. A newly hired worker on the processing line starts at $5 an hour, boosted to $6.15 an hour after 800 hours. Top rate for the cold room, glazing and general warehousing is $9 an hour.
Joe Tessier from Teamsters Local 117 says that about 40 percent of seafood in Seattle is unionized, mostly in cold storage. Teamsters has about 400 to 500 union seafood workers in
• DOUG McKEE (above) works at Lummi Processing (right), a non-union fish plant at Goose-bury Point east of Bellingham, less than an hour's drive from Vancouver. Over 60 Canfisco totes fill the yard.
Seattle at Seafreeze, Ranier Cold Storage, Seattle Seafoods, Washington Fish and Oyster, Pacific Fish/Booth Fisheries and City Ice and Cold Storage.
Tessier says that starting rates are about $7 an hour, going up to around $9 an hour for most workers. "Outside Seattle, though, it's almost all non-union at 5 bucks an. hour," he said.
Large multinationals dominate Washington seafood industry
Some of the biggest American and Japanese corporations have controlling interest in the seafood industry in Washington state. Canadian foreign investment is significant in both Washington and Alaska.
Of the 14 seafood companies with sales over $50 million annually, no less than five are owned by huge Japanese multinational corporations.
Grossing over $100 million a year is Trident Seafoods, owned by American agro-business giant ConAgra Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska. ConAgra's annual sales total $9 billion and the corporation's many subsidiaries employ over 50,000 workers, making it equal in size to Weston Inc. in Canada.
ConAgra produces over 300 food items including such labels as Banquet, Armour, Norton, Blue Star, Patio and Chun King.
As well as Trident Seafoods, ConAgra owns other major seafood companies on the east and gulf coasts including O'Donnell-Usen Fisheries, ConAgra Shrimp, Singleton Seafood, and International Seafood Traders.
Trident Seafoods in Washington has been on a buying spree, snapping up other west coast seafood companies such as San Juan Seafoods. Trident is currently building a multi-million cubic foot cold storage facility in Anacortes, Wash.
The Washington seafood industry is based almost entirely on fresh and frozen markets. About 80 percent of the export
frozen salmon is destined for Japan.
The only major cannery in Washington is a Nelbro Packing plant in Anacortes, owned by B.C. Packers. Robert Hirstel, a labour relations consultant for the major seafood companies, says that some big Washington companies are canning salmon, but only in Alaska because it's far cheaper than shipping the fish south. He said that most major seafood companies have operations in Alaska.
Canadian investments in the
Washington seafood industry include Nelbro Packers, owned by B.C. Packers, Versacold Cold Storage, and subsidiaries of Shafer-Haggart of B.C. and Clouston Foods of Quebec. The biggest B.C. fish processors have concentrated most of their U.S. investment in Alaska where B.C. Packers (Weston Inc.) runs operations at Naknek and Petersburg as Nelson Bros. Fisheries; J.S. McMillan Fisheries operates Wrangell Fisheries in Wrangell; and Ocean Fisheries carries on business under the banner of Farwest Fisheries.
• TRIDENT SEAFOODS is constructing a huge cold storage facility on the Anacortes waterfront. Trident is one of the largest fish processing companies in Washington, owned by ConAgra Inc. of Omaha, a huge multinational food conglomerate.
Top Washington-based seafood companies
SALES OVER $100 MILLION
Icicle Seafoods Inc.
S.N.G. (USA) Inc.
Parent company: Shin Nihon Global Inc.(Japan)
Trident Seafoods Corp. (San Juan Seafoods) Parent company: ConAgra lnc.(U.S.)
Ward Cove Packing Co. (Frank B. Peterson Co.)
Washington Fish and Oyster Inc. (Seattle Seafoods) Parent company: Ocean Beauty Seafoods Ltd.(U.S.)
Western Alaska Fisheries Inc.
Parent company: Taiyo Fishery Co.(Japan)
SALES OF $50-100 MILLION
Golden Age Fisheries
Marine Resources Co. Inf I Parent company: Bellingham Cold Storage Co.(U.S.)
North Pacific Seafoods
Nozaki America Inc.
Parent company: Nozaki & Co.(Japan)
Peter Pan Seafoods
Parent company: Nichiro Gyogyo Kaisha (Japan)
Profish Int'l Inc.
Shafer-Haggart Ltd.
Parent company: Shafer-Haggart Ltd.(Canada)
UniSea Foods Inc.
Parent company: Nippon Suisan (Japan)
SALES OF $20-50 MILLION
Coast Oyster Co., Deep Sea Fisheries Inc., Intersea Fisheries Ltd., Janssen Associates Inc., Nakamura & Associates Inc., Oceantrawl Inc., Odessey Enterprises Inc., Pacific Fish /Booth, Royal Seafoods Inc., Sea Coast Seafoods Inc., Seafood Sales Inc., Snopac Products Inc., World Ocean Products Co.
Source: Seafood Business - Seafood Buyer's Catalog 1990
10 • THE FISHERMAN / OCTOBER 20,1989