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• Fraternal delegates to the UFAWU convention from the newly formed Great Lakes Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (left to rign' Jack Gandaio and Helder Caneco. Both unions have agreed to wo closely in the coming organizational work on the Great Lakes.
UFAWU, Erie union cement solidarity
12 • THE FISHERMAN / FEBRUARY 23, 1987
UFAWU convention delegates made the struggle to organize the Lake Erie fishing industry their own Feb. 5 with a standing ovation for two fishermen from the newly-formed Great Lakes Fishermen and Allied Workers Union.
"We're so strong we're going to go forward with our union," vowed GLFAWU representative Helder Caneco. "We say to people that if they don't want to join the union, they don't have to, but we don't want them to talk bad about the union.
"We're going to stay like a family and go forward together."
Caneco's brief address, which followed on a report on the UFAWU's efforts to assist the GLFAWU to get established, galvanized the convention. As union president Jack Nichol said in introducing the Lake Erie delegates, their struggles were an inspiration to the UFAWU and a reminder of how much had been accomplished by organization in B.C.
The battle for organization on Lake Erie began last spring, Nichol said, and in the course of the nine-month struggle for government recognition "people were fired from their jobs for joining a union.
"They established their own union because no other unions showed a real willingness to organize there," Nichol said. "That union is now on the verge of compelling vessel owners to come to the table and negotiate for an agreement that will lock them into a fair share payment to crews.
"If they refuse, they can expect a strike on Lake Erie in 1987."
Caneco told the delegates that the trip he and Jack Gandaio had made to the UFAWU convention had been "one of the most important we have made. We have an idea what we can do for our union.
"When we started we were being ripped off by the owners," he recalled. "We were getting less than 50 percent of our catch and when they weighed the fish they didn't give proper weight."
Conditions deteriorated sharply when the government instituted a transferable boat quota system, Caneco said. Vessel owners began squeezing fishermen to raise the money to buy more quotas. Fishermen were being asked to take a cut in pay so that some could be forced out of a job as the number of vessels decreased.
"We used to fix their nets for free. They said they were going to invest in more boats, more licences. We were working hard and didn't have anything, they had most of it."
A former UFAWU member named Domingos Belo agreed to help them establish a union and contacted the UFAWU in Vancouver. Caneco recalled the first visit to Leamington, the main Lake Erie port, by union business agent John Radosevic.
"He told us to stay together and be strong," Caneco said-"Then you can have a union.
Vessel owners offered fishermen jobs for life if they wouK3 fight the union. "We said no-we're going far with this union-Most GLFAWU members are Portuguese Canadians, Canec* said, and have had to assert the'' rights to organize.
"We don't let people make m of us, tease us, or tell us should go back to Portugal. W« have the freedom they have. 1 a/" a Canadian citizen. I have all the rights of Canadian who was bof here."
At the UFAWU's suggestion-the GLFAWU hired former UFAWU northern representative Mike Darnell as their executive director. After 10 months o' arduous work, the Lake Erie f'sn' ermen and shoreworkers ha** won certification on a dozen vessels and in four shore plants-Their union is a reality.
In the officers' report on the Lake Erie drive, the union leadership detailed the UFAWU5 efforts to assist organization.
The need for organization was obvious, the report said, wit" "long hours, unsafe conditions n) the plants and on the vesse' which were leading to injuries and deaths, unbridled intirni"8' tion, hiring and layoffs without regard to any form of seniority' company thefts of fish delivered' unjustified firings and arbitrary reductions of crew shares."
For various reasons, the fish.' ermen and shoreworkers believe" that existing unions in the area would not be able to achieve their goals nor give them enough control over their union.
"Their motto became 'join the UFAWU or go it alone,'" thj report noted. "Despite any effort to discuss the possibility of considering other organizations, th'S resolve remained unshakeable-
The UFAWU offered advice, some financial aid and reconj" mended the hiring of Darnel'-The Great Lakes workers raised tens of thousands of dollars. The union became a reality.
The issue of the relationship between the UFAWU and the GLFAWU remains unresolved; the report said. Even an organ'' zational link that gave both organizations financial autonomy leaves many questions unanswered.
Discussions on the question have been held with the United Food and Commercial Worked and the Canadian AutoworkerSt the report said, but "the question of mergers has been put on the back burner while the fign, to gain more certifications and prepare for negotiations continues."
In the meantime,
UFAWl|
locals are stepping up financia' aid to the fledgling Great Lakes organization. "There's a common thread in what we face and what they are confronting," fisherrnad John Malm told the convention-"Let's do whatever we can."
