|
|||||
| Return to 2006 News Releases | |||||
|
|
News
Release |
||||
|
FPI making profits while Newfoundland and Labrador workforce remains idle November 8, 2006
|
|||||
|
Opposition Leader Gerry Reid says he is concerned that Fishery Products International (FPI) is making profits while their Newfoundland and Labrador workforce remains idle. Yesterday, FPI announced that they made a profit of $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2006. An official with FPI attributed this profit to the non-operation of groundfish operations in Newfoundland and Labrador. AFPI is showing a profit on the backs of the workers of this province while our provincial government sits idly by and does nothing,@ said Mr. Reid. AThere are 1,500 FPI workers who are unemployed because of this company=s total disregard for primary processing in this province. There are 40 million pounds of groundfish owned by FPI being left in the water, and it appears the company has no intention of processing this fish in their Burin peninsula plants. If FPI is not willing to process this fish in Newfoundland and Labrador, I suggest they lose their access to our resource. AIf the company continues to take this direction, I fear they may be giving up on their primary processing of groundfish in this province and have it processed elsewhere or onboard a factory freezer trawler. If the provincial government is unwilling to do anything to help the affected FPI workers get back on the job, I am calling on the federal government to take the company=s groundfish quotas and give them to somebody who has enough interest to process that product in Newfoundland and Labrador. AIt is shameful that FPI is touting the closure of their groundfish sector as a benefit to their company. The people of this province built FPI through their blood, sweat and tears, and it was the groundfish sector that allowed the company to grow and build. The groundfish sector helped subsidize the company=s other operations in the past, however, it now appears that the company will not do the same for the groundfish sector. Something must be done to ensure our fish is processed in this province for the benefit of our people. The provincial government has no problem getting involved with companies with ties to Premier Danny Williams, yet it continues to sit back and do nothing as FPI runs roughshod over the people of this province.@
|
|||||
|
Media Contact: |
|||||
