The civil war that’s broken out between the old FFAW guard on its way out and the Dwan Street/Jason Sullivan-led new guard could impact inshore harvesters where it would hurt most — the 2025 price of fish. The new guard doesn’t take over until Nov. 19th, almost four months after the July election, and the old guard isn’t going quietly.
The wind immediately left Street’s presidential sails after she was elected because the new executive won't be installed until Nov. 19th at the FFAW's 14th constitutional convention.
That's four long months for the new leadership to twiddle their thumbs.
Meantime, the union is advertising at least four top-level jobs right now: Inshore Director ($75,000-$115,000), Membership Representative ($80,000-$92,000), an IRO (industrial/retail/offshore) Director ($75,000-$120,000) and Executive Director of the NL Fish Harvesting Safety Association (up to $95,000 a year).
Who will do the hiring — the old guard, or the new guard?
Sullivan has accused the old FFAW guard of trying to hire “puppets to sabotage any progressive advancements we plan to make in the new union."
And he's laid down the law.
“I can make one guarantee and it's a simple one: We cannot stop them from doing the dirt to us now, but we can fire whoever they hire on Nov. 19th."
Such a move would hamstring the union for months in terms of addressing the broken/embarrassing fish-pricing system.
That work must begin now.
Meantime, the Premier Andrew Furey administration is planning yet another review of the inshore fishery — the 4th since 2020. (A mistake repeated more than once is a choice.)
Government has said the FFAW will have a say in the ground rules/Terms of Reference for the latest review (to be announced before Sept. 1st) — but will that be the old union guard, or the new guard?
The Furey government has yet to prove its commitment to the inshore (or be forgiven for last spring’s disrespect/police horses), and if that doesn’t soon change there will likely be fishery protests this fall that will make the spring demos look like a garden party.
Sullivan had this to say in a Facebook post earlier this week:
“All I can say is that something is going to look very different next year, the cod fishery or the White Hills and that will be up to DFO to decide."
Employees at DFO’s NL headquarters in the White Hills of east end St. John’s are probably thankful their office fortress has a manned security gate.
It must be highlighted that Sullivan specifically mentioned the northern cod "gong show" as a pressing issue, and he supports the introduction of Individual Quotas (IQs) in the return of a northern cod stewardship fishery.
He did not mention addressing the broken system of fish pricing.
As President-elect, Street deserves time to prove herself, but she won’t have much of it with the 2025 fishing season here before you know it
In normal times I’d give a new union leader a full two years to prove themselves, but Street's baptism is now and it is by fire.
The stakes are incredibly high and include not just the price of fish/free enterprise, but the fate of the union itself.
Ryan cleary is a former journalist, Member of Parliament, union leader, and long-time inshore fisheries advocate who’s currently helping to organize a co-operative (fpcnl.ca) for inshore enterprise owners. The opinions expressed in this blog are his own. Contact him at fpc-nl@outlook.com or call/text 709 682 4862.
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