Speaking Notes for Mayor Don Stewart

Update on Plant/IAS Activities

6:30 PM, Thursday, February 17th, 2005

 

 

Good Evening Citizens of Harbour Breton:

 

It has been approximately 3 months since FPI announced its intentions to close their processing plant here in Harbour Breton on November 19th, 2004. Since then, the local Union, together with the Town, has had 2 public meetings to bring residents up to date and the Town held a separate meeting in early January to update the business community. In addition, regular updates have appeared in various stories and news articles in the Coaster. While I have had an opportunity to speak with many of you personally, others may be unaware of the details on the many activities that have been taking place over the past several weeks. I want to assure you that a lot of work has been done, much of it on a volunteer basis, and I want to take the next few minutes to update you, as best as I can, on activities being undertaken by the Town, in conjunction with the local Union, the Economic Development Committee, the Provincial and Federal Governments, FPI and others to address the problems and challenges we have before us.

 

On November 19th, we were given the news by FPI that they had no intentions of operating their plant in 2004 or 2005. As Mayor, and as a Town Council, we were as shocked as any employee who depended on the plant for their livelihood. Both directly and indirectly, this Town depends heavily on the plant, through taxation and employee payroll deductions, as a source of revenue from which we carry out day-to-day operations such as road maintenance, water and sewer and snow clearing. Like you, we wondered how the town would survive and be able to provide basic services without the tax base associated with the FPI plant.

 

The timing of the FPI announcement could not have come at a worse time. It came without notice and after a time when we had been given assurance by FPI that their operating plans remained unchanged for 2004 and 2005. Furthermore, it came at the onset of winter and just 4 weeks before Christmas, a challenging and expensive time for everyone. Most of all, the announcement was made at a time when some employees had already run out of EI benefits and many, approximately 46 people, over the 2 months that followed would find themselves in the same position. Like you, these realities left us scrambling and wondering about how we could best approach this most difficult situation.

 

 

Interim Funding Assistance

 

Our first priority was to address how we would get money into the hands of displaced workers who needed it quickly, particularly those whose EI had already run out and those who needed just a few hours to qualify for EI benefits. With some immediate actions, we were indeed fortunate to access a small amount of money from the Department of Provincial and Municipal Affairs to provide insurable earnings to those who needed it most. While we realize that $6.24 per hour is low in comparison to wages earned on the plant, existing program criteria had to be followed and, in comparison to the alternative nothing, this was welcomed assistance for the short term. While finding money was difficult in the limited amount of time we had to work with, finding meaningful, community development projects was equally difficult. With assistance from the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs we were fortunate, once again, to access more money to look after the people affected in January and February. Again, we realize that this is low wage, insurable earnings and, recognizing the challenge that brings, we are working on securing additional funding that will provide a more reasonable hourly wage.

 

 

Plant Structure/Safety Issues

 

With Christmas coming within 4 weeks after the announcement, our primary focus was to find funding to help people through the Christmas season with very little time to address any of the bigger, long-term issues.  We did, however, seek clarification and confirmation on the structure of the plant itself. Given that FPI’s initial reason for the closure was due to the safety and structure of the building, and that this was further endorsed by Occupational, Health and Safety, we set out to prove otherwise. While we realize that some sections of the plant are in poor condition and can be dismantled altogether and others need to be upgraded, we also realized that many areas are in good condition and, with some minor repair, these areas are quite safe for occupancy and production. In this regard, we had the town engineer conduct a thorough evaluation of the property in order to come up with an estimate as to the cost needed to bring the plant up to standard.  While some preliminary figures have been provided, the engineering work is still ongoing with more extensive engineering work scheduled to begin on Tuesday, February 22nd, to determine precisely where we are with the property in terms of structure, environmental risks, etc.

 

 

IAS Committee

 

Another important step in dealing with this issue was the formation of our Industrial Adjustment Services (IAS) Committee by the Town of Harbour Breton and local FFAW Union back January. The IAS Committee is a committee normally set up in crisis situations like this to deal with major issues such as income adjustment, compensation, quotas, ownership of the plant, future operations and so on. The Committee, as you probably read in the papers, is chaired by David Vardy and he has extensive experience in the fishing industry serving in several senior positions within government, including Deputy Minister of Fisheries. The Committee has one staff person, Bill Carter. He is the Research Coordinator and will work closely with the Chair and all Committee members to move the entire IAS process along. The Committee is represented by all fishing industry stakeholder groups including Council, the FFAW (represented by Eric Day), Inshore Fisherperson’s Council (represented by Mildred Skinner), the Town’s Economc Development Committee, public training institutions as well as various Provincial and Federal government officials. Funding for the operation of the IAS Committee is being provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Fishery Products International Limited.

 

In light of the announcement, every possible avenue has to be explored to identify alternatives that will alleviate the impact of the current crisis. The key purpose of this IAS Committee is to address the problems of Income Support and Employment in the short term and the problem of revitalizing and reactivating the plant in the long term. With the plant and its future being the focal point, the Committee is also engaged to look at other economic development and diversification opportunities such as aquaculture, tourism, marine service industries, manufacturing and others.

 

 

 

 

Training

 

One of the first initiatives undertaken by the IAS Committee was to organize voluntary training information sessions to provide people with information on possible training that may be available through the Marine Institute and the College of the North Atlantic. These sessions also provided information with respect to assistance that may be available through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. These sessions were interesting and encouraging for some and we are now engaged in a follow-up process, in conjunction with the local Union and the training institutions, to identify those who may be seriously interested in further training. To express your interest, we suggest that you contact any member of the Union Executive. To find out more information on possible financial assistance that may be available through HRSDC, we strongly recommend that you call or visit the local Employment Assistance Office to discuss your specific interests and needs. As each individual case is different, one-on-one sessions are strongly recommended by HRSDC staff.  

 

 

 

Income Adjustment Proposal

 

With respect to the immediate, short-term problem of Income Support and actually getting money into the hands of people, a major proposal has been carefully prepared and presented to both levels of government as well as FPI requesting them to contribute to this income adjustment package. While we touched on many other issues, Income Adjustment was essentially the main focus of our meetings with Provincial and Federal officials and FPI last week.

 

The Income Support Program would be a 2 year program whereby each employee would be employed on meaningful, community development projects for a period of 14 weeks in each of the next 2 years. The proposal is based on a reasonable wage rate of $10.00 per hour and would be insurable. Upon completion of the 14 weeks, people would then qualify for Employment Insurance benefits for the remainder of the year. In the second year, the same thing would happen – everyone would be employed for another 14 weeks and qualify for EI again.

 

The key objective here is to provide some level of income to the 348 workers affected by the closure in an effort to keep them in the community until the long-term problems can be addressed. There is a very real concern that, without income, many will choose to leave in search of work elsewhere, thereby creating the risk of losing our skilled workforce and causing a negative trickle down effect on businesses and services that could be devastating to the community. That being said, we realize that this income support program is only a temporary measure and, by no means, a long term solution to our problem.

 

The Income Support Proposal along with specific requests to each level of government and FPI have been presented and we will be following up on a constant basis to ensure the proposal gets immediate attention at all levels. We want you to clearly understand that this program has only been proposed at this point; our meetings were encouraging but, let me make it perfectly clear, that by no means, have we received anything in the way of official approval from either the Provincial Government or the Federal Government or Fishery Products International.

 

 

Meetings with Provincial and Federal officials ad FPI

 

Last week, members of the IAS Committee, including representatives of the Town, Union and Coast of Bays Corporation traveled to St. John’s to meet with representatives of both levels of government including Premier Danny Williams and several Cabinet Ministers, Federal Minister John Efford and MP Bill Matthews, as well as senior officials of FPI. Our MHA, Oliver Langdon, was also present at these meetings.  

 

We were encouraged by the fact that the Premier understands our situation and committed to providing assistance once they had a better opportunity to review the proposal. He also committed to supporting any reasonable request for a quota as well as providing money to help in preparing a plan for the reactivation of our plant. He immediately established a special committee of Cabinet to help us with the challenges we face and assured us of government’s position and concerns with respect to the past actions and apparent direction of FPI as it relates to their future in this Province.

 

The meeting with FPI was also encouraging to the extent that they agreed to consider our request for a portion of the money needed for income support and are ready to meet at our request to discuss the transfer of the plant and equipment.

 

The meeting with Federal Minister John Efford and our MP Bill Matthews also gave us an indication that they are supportive of our request with respect to Income Support. They recognize the urgency and agreed to move our request forward as quickly as possible in the Federal system. The objective now is to pressure the Premier and Provincial Government as well as Federal officials, particularly our MP and representative in the House of Commons, Bill Matthews, for a timely response to our request. We urge you to call, write or e-mail Mr. Matthews immediately to express your concerns and emphasize the urgency. Also, please call, write or e-mail the Premier, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Minister John Efford.

 

Minister Efford also agreed to arrange a meeting with the Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Geoff Regan, to discuss the topic of quotas; we anticipate this meeting within the next couple of weeks and we are currently preparing our position on this critical matter. During meetings last week, we discussed several issues related to the concept of regional quotas including our entitlement to a percentage of the FPI Offshore Allocation, our share of resources now under moratorium as well as the possibility of receiving an Offshore Shrimp quota – all possibilities that will be considered as we formulate our position on the quota issue.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Without a doubt, our situation is getting attention and support from the general public. Since before Christmas, people around the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador were aware of our plight and I have received many calls from Mayors of other communities expressing their concern and support. Our recent demonstration at the Trans Canada Highway intersection was met with positive response and it put the issue back in the media as being front and center and one that needs immediate attention by Premier Williams and the Provincial Government.

 

We realize the situation we all face is difficult – as employees, as business owners, charity groups and service organizations, as a community and as a Council. We are all trying to manage our affairs under difficult financial and social circumstances. The challenge is great and we all have to be realistic and understand that there is no easy, ‘quick-fix’ solution. However, we want you to rest assured that we are working tirelessly and aggressively as a Council, in conjunction with the local Union, to address the important issues on your behalf as quickly and as prudently as possible. We have received solid support from our MHA, Oliver Langdon, Provincial and Federal Government departments, the FFAW, the Coast of Bays Corporation as well as a committed group of volunteers from within the community. By continuing to work cooperatively together, we are optimistic that a viable solution will be found.

 

I trust this provides you with a better understanding of the activities that we, as a Council, have undertaken since the FPI announcement on November 19th. We must stand united and supportive of each other during these difficult and trying times.

 

I thank you for your attention this evening.