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Unionism in the Fishing Industry of British Columbia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
Fishermen’s organizations in British Columbia present an interesting and in many ways unique case study of unionism among a distinct occupational group. The peculiar economic and social factors which have conditioned their growth were examined at some length in a previous article. A brief recapitulation may be in order at this point, as a background to the more factual history that follows.
Unionism among the fishermen of British Columbia has experienced an intense and diversified organizational growth, accompanied by frequent and at times violent industrial disputes. As may be seen from Tables I and II below, there have been at least thirty different fishermen’s organizations formed at one time or another since 1893, and members of these, as well as numerous non-union fishermen, have engaged in more than forty strikes. The fishing industry of British Columbia today is highly organized, and industrial relations are relatively stable and harmonious. The majority of fishermen now belong to one union that has collective bargaining jurisdiction over all major branches of the industry. Most of the non-union fishermen (as well as a considerable number of union members) belong to processing and marketing co-operatives.
Yet it would be difficult to imagine an occupational group less amenable to unionism. Strictly speaking, most fishermen in British Columbia are not employees or “workers” in the usual sense of the term. They are proprietors who own and operate their own capital, that is, their boats and gear. Their occupation is by nature highly migratory, individualistic, and competitive, as it is carried on in many scattered operations along thousands of miles of rugged coastline. Their employment and income are very insecure by reason of the characteristically extreme seasonal and cyclical fluctuations in the supply, demand, and prices of fish.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , May 1950 , pp. 146 - 171
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1950
References
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2 Fishermen in some branches of the industry, as in purse-seining and halibut fishing, are employed as members of crews by fishing companies and vessel owners. Even in this case, however, they are not “employees” in the full sense of the term, as they are paid on a “lay” or share basis. That is to say, the crew members share the proceeds of the boat’s fish catch with the boat owner and skipper. It is for this reason that many fishing crew members are disqualified from many of the benefits provided by labour legislation.
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5 Apparently fishermen at this time were being paid a flat daily wage. From the late eighteen-nineties on they were paid on a piece-rate basis (per fish, per pound, etc.) and from their earnings the canneries and fishing companies deducted rental payments for boat and gear.
6 Ibid., July 15, 1893, p. 2.
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80 It is difficult to estimate the degree of union organization among gillnetters and trollers because of the large and unknown number of “casuals” in these two branches of fishing. The licence figures are padded by “holiday fishermen” (who take a commercial licence for a vacation period) and by part-time fishermen (who may fish one or two nights a week while holding down another job). Every year there are also several hundred new entrants to the trade, as well as several hundred dropping out. These might be termed “experimental” fishermen.
By and large, the longer the experience in fishing, the greater the degree of unionization. According to estimates of the UFAWU, gillnetters with more than three years experience are 80 per cent unionized, those with two to three years 50 per cent, those with one year 10 per cent, and holiday or part-time fishermen practically zero.
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