The football analogy comes as part of a new post to the Union's Social media stream, which traces much of the back and forth that the union has had with political officials in recent months, all of which seem to have been deflected from the politicians to this point.
The union has however found a glimmer of hope for the dire situation facing the membership after this summer's disastrous fishing season, highlighting a program that their sister union in Newfoundland has made them aware of.
They note that they have been in touch with Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, seeking his assistance in accessing the same kind of assistance for the West Coast that is apparently available for those living in Atlantic Canada.
We have written back to Minister Wilkinson to say that if Emergency Assistance is in DFO's mandate on the Atlantic coast, it should be in his mandate for our coast, too. We are not looking for 'compensation' - no one can compensate us for a foregone salmon season. We are looking for Emergency Disaster Assistance.
The Details of the program that is available for those in the Atlantic Canadian fishery can be reviewed here.
What kind of short term success they have in getting a reply may be limited, with the current Federal Election campaign underway, the workings of the Federal government appears to be very much that of a bare maintenance kind of operation at the moment.
UFAWU-Unifor also note that they continue to seek out the assistance of the Provincial government though the results of those conversations still appear to have come up short of what the union is hoping for.
Council may offer an invitation to UFAWU-Unifor head Joy Thorkelson to speak on fishery issues in October |
With Council members set for a road trip to UBCM next week, the next opportunity for such efforts on the municipal level will come with the first of two meetings for October to take place on October 7th.
Considering the glacial approach that the two senior levels of government appear to be taking on the issues, there's probably a very good chance that Ms. Thorkelson will be making a return to the Council Chambers next month and perhaps taking a letter of support from the City of Prince Rupert with her at the end of her presentation.
You can explore the full statement from the labour union from their Facebook post here.
For more items of note on the fishing industry see our archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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