Jim Dalton

It's going to be a financial struggle.

That was one of the points made by plant workers from Port Union when they met with provincial fisheries minister Tom Hedderson last Monday, Nov. 2.

Jim Dalton, local FFAW rep, helped arrange the meeting with the minister in St. John's. Dave Decker of the Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) was also at the meeting, along with a couple of workers from the Port Union plant.

One of the workers who went along to the meeting presented the minister with copies of her monthly bills to show Hedderson that the income she would get from a government-funded project would not be enough for her to meet her monthly obligations for rent, heat, light, phone, medical insurance and food.

Dalton says they met with the minister to request one particular thing - to see if plant workers who are employed on the government-funded projects can get enough work to qualify for EI with 14 weeks of insurable earnings.

Dalton explains 420 hours of work is the minimum number of hours needed to file an EI claim.

However, because Human Resources and Employment Canada uses a divisor of 14 to calculate average weekly wages, people who get only 420 hours will have a lower weekly EI benefit.

"Around the island there's not a lot of shrimp plants, so there's not a whole lot of people who need help," contends Dalton, suggesting the province could have put a special program in place for those people.

Dalton points to a situation in 2005, where government provided a little more help to displaced plant workers.

That year, workers at Trouty and Bonavista ran into trouble qualifying for EI, he says.

The government came up with a 'crab workers support program.'

This program gave workers the additional weeks they needed to qualify for 14 weeks, Dalton says, adding, "The rate of pay was $2.25 above minimum wage. Why couldn't government come out with something similar this year for shrimp plant workers?"

Hedderson told The Packet earlier this week that the special program for Trouty plant workers, in that case, was due to the fact that their plant was closing.

"A plant closure is different than a poor season. When a plant closes we go in with a worker adjustment program to make sure people have the proper transition opportunities because the plant is closed. We look at trying to retrain them or redirect them, so really that program is a little different."

The workers also came away with no progress on their biggest wish, to have the program changed to enable them to get 14 weeks of work and, thereby, a large EI benefit.

According to Dalton, the minister advised the group that there wasn't a whole lot he could do to change the program for plant workers and fishermen.

Hedderson confirmed the program can't be changed for this year.

"They needed a change from hours to weeks, but the program doesn't work that way. The program has gone through the government process and in order to change it we would have to go back over it. But we don't have the time to do that," he said.

Most shrimp plants in the province have shut down production and workers who did not get enough work to qualify for EI have no income.

As for the workers with monthly bills to pay, who fear they won't be able to make those commitments, Hedderson agreed, "It's going to be pretty tough, not only for people in this industry but in other industries as well.

"We know that the income levels are down and knowing the bridging program can't necessarily address all the concerns that were raised, especially when it comes to mortgages and so on.

"We can only hope that there might be some forgiveness by the banks to ensure they find a way to allow these people to defer payments."

Meanwhile, Dalton says he hopes if plant workers and fishermen are in the same position next year - and he has reason to believe they will - the province should consult with them in the development of a plan, and do it much earlier than they did it this year.

"As we go forward, looking at next year, perhaps there may be some opportunity to do some changes," he said.

Plant workers and fishers from the Bonavista peninsula will get a chance to meet Hedderson again next week.

The minister is on the list of speakers for the fisheries symposium set for next Wednesday, Nov. 18.

editor@thepacket.ca

Dalton's calculations

It won't be much to live on.

According to Jim Dalton's calculations, some shrimp plant workers will have to get by this winter on just over $200 a week from Employment Insurance.

Here's how he does the math:

A plant worker who works:

- 300 hours at the plant, at $13.20 per hour and 8 percent vacation pay (for a total of $14.25 per hour), earns $4,275.50 for the 2009 season.

- 120 hours on a project at $9.00 per hour and 4 per cent vacation pay (for a total of $9.36 per hour), earns $1,123.20

The total earnings for the year are $5,398.70

Under EI rules, $5,398.70 divided by 14, amounts to $385 average weekly wage.

The EI benefit is 55 percent of that average weekly wage, $212 weekly

Total EI benefits for the year will be $6,784.

Combined with the $5,398.70 income from plant and project wages, and the worker's income for the year is just $12,182.