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Halibut men rebuff owners in larger boat share bid
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UFAWU longline fishermen evidently share the conviction of their union officers that the B.C. Fishing Vessel Owners Association's demand for an increase in the vessel share from 20 to 26 percent is not justified.
Halibut fishermen rejected the demand by 94 percent in recent secret balloting.
The issue had been building since early February when the vessel owners served notice on the union they would seek the six percent vessel share increase to help offset inflation and provide a bigger profit margin in the halibut fishery.
The UFAWU longline committee held meetings with the owners but negotiations languished when owners failed to produce statistics to back up their claim.
"The union is not convinced that vessel share increases are justified at this time . . . certainly the vessel owners have failed to prove their case," UFAWU Vancouver waterfront organizer John Radosevic wrote in a bulletin issued to the halibut fleet last week.
So the union will insist on maintenance of the status quo for this season, keeping a close check on
crew settlements where violations of the share agreement are reported.
A fast look at the current share system suggests that the six percent vessel share increase proposed by the vessel owners would cost the average halibut crewman up to $1,000 over the course of a season, Radosevic stated.
"Admittedly the owners probably do not make the windfall profits on halibut that are made on herring or salmon through under-the-table bonuses which are rarely shared with crew members
"In any case, halibut prices have skyrocketed in recent years and the union believes the fishery remains viable for vessels putting in a respectable production."
Radosevic said it was true there were persistent reports of UFAWU members "selling out the majority of fishermen" by secretly taking cuts in union conditions, but, he declared, the union would not abdicate its responsibility to its halibut membership and would impose penalties up to and including suspension on any union member found deliberately breaking the agreement.
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Owners had claimed that other owner organizations in the halibut fishery already are receiving vessel shares in excess of 20-percent. It also protested that the UFAWU was not properly enforcing the existing agreement which restricts union members from sailing on vessels not belonging to the vessel owners' association.
To the first charge the union replied that divisions or weakness in Prince Rupert or United States-based unions do not necessarily justify the increases the vessel owners are clamoring for.
In the northern city, conditions that were battled for by working fishermen were relinquished — "without a whimper", in Radosevic's words — recently when the re-chartered Deep Sea Fishermen's Union signed an agreement awarding vessels 25 percent shares.
"The UFAWU . . . will not accept automatic cuts in the living standards of our members just because vessel owners in the United States or Prince Rupert are ripping off unjustifiable vessel shares," he declared.
With regard to the other charge, the union pointed out that there have been "sizeable defections" from the vessel owners' association and it is difficult for the union to determine just who belongs to the organization. The situation is not helped by the vessel owners' failure to furnish the union with the membership list it requested.
"Certainly the vessel owners would be hard pressed to use this as an excuse to terminate the longline agreement," Radosevic said.
The longline committee made it clear from the start that it would not consider crew share cuts unless the vessel owners could demonstrate real economic need on their party.
At first reluctant to provide statistics, owners eventually produced a set of figures indicating that the 49 single purpose member halibut vessels which participated in the 1975 fishery had an average value of slightly over $47,000 and an average vessel share of $17,265.
Admitting that their figures did not include the larger combination vessels which they represent in negotiations, owners agreed to present statistics respecting value, production and profit of these larger vessels at a later meeting.
However, this was not to be.
"On April 25, Byron Wright, spokesman for the vessel owners, arrived stating that the . . . committee would not be in to negotiate further," Radosevic reported in his bulletin. "Instead, he handed the longline committee a second set of figures and two letters stating their position."
The deadlock remains unbroken, but the union has declared that individual vessel owners, unless already covered by agreement, will be required to renew the share agreement before clearances will be issued.
"Halibut fishermen must carry these decisions to the fishing grounds in a more forceful way in 1977," the Vancouver waterfront organizer emphasized.
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THE FISHERMAN — MAY 6, 1977/7