FPI workers take a pass on concessionary package

Plant workers with Fishery Products International have rejected a wage-cutting deal with Newfoundland and Labrador's flagship producer.

The Fish, Food and Allied Workers union said 52 per cent of the 983 workers who cast votes Tuesday voted against a deal reached this weekend, on the eve of Monday's strike deadline.

"A lot of these people worked for that company for a long time and feel pretty badly treated, in terms of the hit they were expected to take," FFAW president Earle McCurdy said Wednesday.

"They don't see the same type of sacrifice being made at the top of the house, so that was clearly a consideration," McCurdy told CBC News.

FFAW negotiators had recommended the 11th-hour agreement, calling it an improvement over deeper concessions that troubled FPI had been seeking at the bargaining table.

The package involved a wage cut that, if enacted, would work out to just over $1 per hour per worker. Current wages average $13.66 per hour. The FFAW said it had made gains in other areas, including overtime.

About 1,700 FFAW members process crab, shrimp and other species at six plants and an additional facility in seven different communities.

McCurdy said hundreds of eligible members did not participate in the vote because they are temporarily working — "not by choice, but by economic necessity" — in Alberta.

FPI, which has cited troubles in recent years with currency exchange and overseas competition, says it must lower its labour costs to stay competitive. The company's leadership has said that all other fish processors in the province pay less.

The rejection moves the strike deadline to April 30.

FPI, meanwhile, is negotiating a possible sale of its major assets— including its fish plants and vessels— with Ocean Choice International.