Six-day tie-up a success
Trawlers warn full strike possible
UFAWU trawl fishermen combined a coastwide tie-up with growing public support and the solidarity of unions from four nations last week to successfully complete the second stage of their battle for a minimum price agreement.
More than 20"0 fishermen voted to end their six-day strike July 6, confident they have served notice on B.C. groundfish processors that the struggle will continue until an agreement has been won.
Highlights of the week-long job action were:
• the solidarity of several ^hundred UFAWU shoreworkers
at B.C. Packers and J.S. McMillan plants in Vancouver and Prince Rupert who honored trawl fishermen picket lines set up for several hours July 6.
• the pledges of solidarity from fishermen's unions of four nations whose members are to take hake from Canadian vessels this summer;
• the overwhelming public support expressed in radio, television and newspaper reports for the union's call for a cut in prices to consumers simultaneously with an increase in prices for fishermen;
• the collection of more than 7,000 signatures on a consumer
Vol. 46, No. 13 -O'Vancouver, B.C. 50C
July 10, 1981
Geofl Meggs photo
• Windward Cloud was one of more than 200 seiners fishing in Berkley Sound June 23 where disappointing returns made setting the net a losing proposition. Catches improved somewhat in the next week's fishery.
July 1 protest
10O vessels fish A-B line
More than 100 union and non-union trollers, angered by the federal government's lack of response to U.S. violations of Canada's northern boundary waters, blockaded Prince Rupert harbor June 26 and held a peaceful fish-in July 1 in Dixon Entrance, south of the A-B line.
Seine catches very poor
Skeena run looks strong
UFAWU
settles
salmon
pacts
UFAWU fishermen, tender-men and shoreworkers have voted by a substantial margin to accept the 1981 one-year tentative agreement with the Fisheries Association of B.C. in a coast-wide ballot concluded July 1.
Union and Native Brotherhood fishermen voted in favor by an 80 percent margin, while shoreworkers approved the new contract by a 71.8 percent.
A final tally for tendermen showed a 92 percent acceptance of the new contract covering their section.
The 1981 agreement, reached June 22, allows for a 21.3 percent increase on sockeye minimum prices over 1980 levels, $1.08 a pound up from 89 cents a pound; an 11.6 percent hike in pinks, 48 cents up from 43 cents; and a 4.1 percent improvement in coho prices of 75 cents up from 72 cents.
The minimum price for large red spings went up to $1.55 a pound, up from $1.38 cents a pound in 1980, while the price for small reds improved by a 4.1 percent margin as in coho. Chum salmon prices stayed at 64 cents as in last year.
Although the minimum price on sockeye improved substantially (up 19 cents), it only represents an increase of three cents over 1979 minimum sockeye prices ($1.05).
The 1981 contract allows an increase of welfare contributions to the fishermen's fund by .175 cents, to a total of 1.4 cents a pound, up from 1.25 cents.
Shoreworkers will be getting a $1.30 an hour across-the-board increase in a one-year contract which will see the base workers' hourly rate increase to $10.40 up from $9.10 in 1980.
Tendermen wages will go up by 13.5 percent, or $14.97 a day up to $15.78 a day, depending on the type of packer on which they're employed.
Meanwhile, B.C. Ice and Cold Storage workers on Commissioner Street approved a two-year contract, similar to the one covering other union shore-workers, by a 65 percent margin.
The B.C. Ice agreement, reached June 29 between union and company negotiators, will ensure a $2.60 an hour general wage increase for all classifications in a two-year contract due to expire in April, 1983.
Cold storage charge hands will be getting $13.58 an hour this year and $14.88 an hour next year, while fork lift drivers and front dock checkers hourly rates will climb to $13.08 this year and $14.38 an hour in 1982.
In a season of widespread closures, low prices and high fuel costs, B.C.'s net fishermen — eager to make up losses suffered in previous years — are finding they face another season of disappointing returns.
A press time, net-caught landings ranged from poor to fair in most areas of the coast after short fisheries in Barkley Sound, the Fraser River, central coast and the northern area in the Nass and Skeena Rivers near Prince Rupert.
A large fleet concentration of 469 Fraser River gillnetters took an average of only 67 fish in a 24-hour opening July 7 which produced total landings of 31,687 fish.
petition supporting the union stand, obtained by fishermen at Vancouver and Prince Rupert supermarkets; and
• the distribution of more than 22,000 leaflets detailing the plight of trawl fishermen. (See page 6.)
UFAWU trawl organizer John Radosevic warned the next step will be a full-scale strike if processors refuse to come to the bargaining table.
"We will have to consider stronger and more effective action next time," he said. The union trawl committee has scheduled membership meetings in October and December to plan
The day's catch included 30,502 sockeye, and 1,030 springs.
An earlier Fraser River opening July 2 faired slightly better for 490 gillnetters at an average of 121 fish in catches of 57,718 sockeye and 1.685 springs.
Barkley Sound net-caught landings were reported poor at press time with fleet concentrations of nearly 250 gillnetters and 200 seine vessels during a four-day opening between July 6 to July 9.
Fisheries department statistics for the first 52 hours of the opening reported a total catch of 60,000 sockeye for 234 gillnetters and 180,000 for 205 seines in Barkley Sound.
further action. The latest tie-up was the second strike since the campaign for an agreement began with a five-day job action May 16.
The union is seeking five cents a pound increase for all trawl fish and wants the elimination of ice and unloading charges. The union fishermen, about 90 per cent of the trawl fishermen in the province, have been without an increase since 1979.
The decision to return to work July 6 was taken by membership meetings in Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
Radosevic told the Vancouver meeting the tie-up had demon-
The trollers' actions were sparked by the recent harassment of two Canadian longlin-ers by the U.S. coast guard, south of the A-B line in Canadian waters in an area that the U.S. claims forms part of Alaska.
"We hope that the blockade and the fish-in will serve as a clear message to Ottawa that B.C. fishermen are determined to protect their vital fishing grounds in Dixon Entrance," UFAWU northern organizer Mike Darnell told The Fisherman July 8.
"We also hope that this will inspire the Canadian government to act more swiftly if Amer-icans continue to violate our territorial waters."
(The A-B line is the Canada-United States boundary on the north side of Dixon Entrance and runs on from A, at Cape Muzon through another point B on Cape Chacon on the south end of the Alaska Panhandle. The U.S. has long sought to push the line south.)
The U.S. Coast Guard patrol vessels Storis and Sorrell harassed longline vessels Sable Mist and Brooks Bay in two separate incidents near Lear-month Bank June 7, claiming that they had entered U.S. waters. Both vessels were well inside Canadian territorial waters, a few miles north of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
This brings the gillnet average to more than 100 fish a day, with seines averaging nearly 400 fish a day.
Initial catches in Area 4 of the Skeena River averaged about 90 fish a boat during the initial three 24-hour openings for gillnetters July 5, July 6 and 7, in what shapes up to be a decent fishing season in the north.
At press time, the UFAWU northern office reported the Skeena run showing good strength, with some gillnetters landing several hundred fish during the opening. Further fisheries were planned by the department.
A total of 480 gillnetters fishing in Area 4's first opening of
strated two important points: that trawl fishermen are serious about their demands and that their case is supported by other sections of the union and the public.
He said the union had collected more than 7,000 signatures from consumers in a 36-hour petition drive. "The public is convinced that our demands can be met by processors without causing an increase in retail prices of groundfish."
An important factor in the successful outcome of the tie-up was shoreworkers' solidarity during the strike.
See TRAWL - page 2
Although the U.S. Coast Guard immediately announced that it "regretted" the interference, the U.S. government subsequently failed to apologize for an act of clear violation of Canada's sovereign waters.
The U.S. claims that a 20-mile area south of the A-B line, B.C.'s historically established northern boundary, belongs to the State of Alaska.
The blockade of Prince Rupert harbor June 26, which lasted nearly four hours, succeeded in discouraging local traffic from many vessels which respected the "picket". Among them were the local B.C. ferry and the Soviet cruise vessel Odessa.
In a meeting in Prince Rupert Fishermen's Hall earlier that day more than 400 fishermen decided to resort to both actions in an effort to convince the federal government to condemn the U.S. violations.
In a series of resolutions, fishermen voted to:
• oppose the sell-out of Canadian territory to the U.S. in Dixon Entrance;
• condemn the recently signed interim treaty on salmon interceptions by both U.S. and Canadian governments;
• protest the current gear restrictions on Canadian fishermen; and
• support B.C. fishermen's demand for a more active parti-See FISH-IN — page 2
the season July 5 brought in 40,302 sockeye, 135 coho, 1,503 pinks, 821 chums and 256 white springs at an average of 89 fish a boat.
A second 24-hour opening for gillnetters in the same area July 7 produced 50,400 sockeye, 375 coho, 2,880 pinks, 2,160 chums and 583 white springs, to a total of 56,398 fish at an average of 117 fish a boat.
A July 8 opening for 480 gillnetters in Area 4 fared worse than the previous two openings when each boat averaged only 85 fish. The day's catch included 36,467 sockeye, 309 coho, 2,010 pinks, 1,701 chums and 634 white springs.
See LANDINGS — page 2