Ocean Choice breathes new life into Fortune plant

By Paul Herridge

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Karen Caines received a call on April 29, asking her if she could be in St. John’s later that evening.

Less than a week later an agreement would be in place giving the Fortune plant a new lease on life.

“That was the last thing I was expecting when I got that phone call. That a week later we would have a collective agreement, a ratification vote with the percentage that we had, and people would actually be getting ready to get that plant up in operation,” said the chair of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers

Union.

There has been little good news for employees of the plant since the facility was closed some three years ago, while still under the ownership of Fishery Products International. Fishery Products wanted nothing more to do with the plant in Fortune, N.L. However, the facility was among the properties that changed hands when Ocean Choice International bought the FPI’s Newfoundland assets last year.

Ocean Choice had been attempting to reach an agreement with the union to process salt fish at the company’s plant in Marystown. When a deal couldn’t be reached – due to issues surrounding overtime and seniority – Fortune was approached.

A membership meeting was called May 5 where 97 per cent of workers voted in favour of a new three-year collective agreement, which includes a starting wage of $11.60 an hour and increases in the second and third years of the deal.

The operation will initially employ between 30-40 workers, with the potential to climb to around 70, depending on the availability of raw material.

Caines noted the company indicated there’s a fair amount of work to be done before the plant can reopen, but suggested the operation should be up and running by late June or early July.

“This is a good sign now for us, to get this much activity at the plant where we were three years with nothing and everybody gave up hope, but we got this little sprinkle of hope right now and they came through for us so we’re hoping that in the future you’ll see bigger and better things here in Fortune.”

Caines has received several congratulatory calls since the news broke, many from plant employees now working in Alberta.

“They’re just ecstatic. You would have had to be at the meeting here last Monday afternoon to really appreciate the optimism; the excitement … there’s really no way to explain the feelings.

“It’s almost like a dream…really, to be honest with you. You’re so long waiting and nothing and all kinds of rumours, but nothing coming out of the rumours. We’ve been let down so many times I think people we’re really afraid to get their hopes up this week.”

In the House of Assembly, Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout called the development a reason to celebrate, noting the plant’s reopening is another indication of how the sale of Fishery Products has helped restore some stability to the fishing industry.

“When that transaction was finalized, we knew that our efforts would result in positive developments for all communities and workers involved,” he said. “Today, the Fortune facility, for which FPI had no future plans, has been given new life and while we recognize the challenges facing the global seafood sector, we are certainly pleased to celebrate any gains and successes that are achieved.”

Grand Bank MHA Darin King also expressed his delight. He suggested the reopening of the plant might well be the break the community needs, to get a well-established company operating the plant.

“The past several years have been very difficult on affected individuals, families and communities. So, this is a great opportunity, as a starting point, to get people back to work and to bring some hope and optimism to the region.”

(Paul Herridge is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Southern Gazette, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester. )