The Newfoundland/Labrador legislature has approved a bill that restricts stock ownership and sets management limits on Fishery Products International Ltd. (FPI) of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The move was a response to a company plan to purchase Clearwater Fine Foods and the threat of massive employee layoffs. FPI has since backed off from both moves.
In March, the provincial House of Assembly approved amendments to the FPI Act, which extends the restriction of ownership of no more than 15 percent of company shares to non-voting as well as voting members. The original FPI Act, adopted in 1987, created FPI as a public corporation comprised of smaller fishery product operations that had either closed or were in trouble.
Reg Anstey, secretary-treasurer of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW), said that the quick passage of legislation amending the FPI Act “sent a clear message that the government and the opposition parties were listening to concerns raised by workers and their communities regarding the new board’s plans for the company and the communities in which it operates.”
Anstey added, “our members were extremely concerned with FPI’s restructuring plan, which flew in the face of promises made last spring by the new board of directors to keep plants open and not to lay people off.” The proposed restructuring plan that was later shelved by the company, he added, called for the layoff of 600 workers at three of the company’s groundfish plants.
Noting that “clarifying the legislation” governing FPI was one of the union’s recommendations, Anstey said, “We felt that the 15 percent share ownership restriction had to be strengthened so that no one person or company could control Fishery Products.”
Anstey concluded, “We said all along that the provincial government had a role to play … because government has a responsibility to ensure public resources are developed for the benefit of its citizens and not for the sole benefit of a corporation or shareholders.”
FFAW represents about 2,500 processing workers and offshore fish harvesters employed by FPI as well as the more than 3,000 inshore fish harvesters who sell to the seafood company.
Calls to FPI were not returned.
By adopting this legislation, the House of Assembly essentially accepted the recommendations of a legislative committee.
The committee determined that legislative changes “are required to preserve and enhance the spirit and intent of the FPI Ac … the people of Newfoundland and Labrador want to work with FPI to ensure the continued success of the company.”
The committee’s specific recommendations included amending the FPI Act to: