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Sheguiandah elects first female chief
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
SHEGUIANDAH - The members of the Sheguiandah First Nation have voted
for change, making Georgina Thompson the community's first female
chief.
Ms. Thompson won the election by a margin of six votes, beating out
incumbent chief Richard Shawanda, who was seeking his seventh term of
office, and candidate Orville Aguonie. Ms. Thompson received 47
votes, Mr. Shawanda received 41 votes, and Mr. Aguonie received 34
votes in the election, held on Monday, October 20. A total of 123
valid ballots were cast for chief. Only one ballot was rejected.
Elected to serve on council were Evelyn Aguonia, with 51 votes, and
Max Assinewai with 40 votes. The runners-up included Lisa Sagutch,
with 39 votes, Pearl Waindubence with 37 votes, Andrew Aguonie with
35 votes, Ruby Thompson with 15 votes, Lorraine Shawande with 13
votes, and Jackie Kozeyah with seven votes. A total of 123 ballots
were cast for councillor.
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Coldwater Lay-Offs
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
LITTLE CURRENT - In an effort to meet the demands for their
fish,
Coldwater Fisheries has been forced to temporarily lay-off 17
employees from its Little Current processing plant.
Instead, the company will fill its orders from its East Coast
operation, explained John Hodder, spokesperson for the company.
He
explained that the employees were laid off approximately three
weeks
ago, but they all will return to work in January.
"This is just a temporary lay-off," he stressed. "It is simply
because we don't have fish."
The lay-offs are strictly in the processing plant, Mr. Hodder
noted,
and the company continues to maintain its full complement of
workers
for its cage operations.
In the past, he explained, when the company had a difficulty in
filling its orders, it would short orders, harvest immature fish
and
broker fish from elsewhere. He noted the company has now decided
that
this is no longer in the best interest of the company, and it
was
time to move in a different direction.
Normally, Coldwater Fisheries produces 60,000 pound of fish per
week.
Presently, the company is processing 15,000 pounds, or 25
percent of
the norm, which was why the company was forced to temporarily
lay-off
the staff, Mr. Hodder said.
"We have to harvest fish on the East Coast right now because of
'Super Chill,'" Mr. Hodder explained, but noted the company
would
have preferred not to lay off any staff.
The lay-offs would not have been necessary if Coldwater had
another
farm in operation to help fill the needs of a full year's
operation,
Mr. Hodder pointed out.
"We have been struggling all along to fill the needs of a full
year's
operation," he explained. "We are still working hard to get
another
farm. Then we would have a lot of product."
Once Coldwater receives the approval for another farm, the cages
would have to be put in place, and the fish would have to be
raised.
"It just does not happen overnight," Mr. Hodder explained,
noting the
licensing process for fish farms is "long and tedious."
The issue of licensing has been one of the major stumbling
blocks for
the aquaculture industry for some time, and this was reflected
in the
2002 annual report for the Ontario Aquaculture Research and
Services
Coordination Committee.
"The province possesses all of the infrastructure and expertise
necessary to support a significantly larger fish-farming sector
than
currently exists," the report states. "Slow progress in
addressing
the conflicts and impediments inherent in the confused
regulatory
framework surrounding aquaculture continues to stifle growth of
the
industry. The issue of First Nations' land claims remains
unresolved
and still stands in the way of new cage culture site approvals."
The report goes on to state, "while market demand for Ontario
aquaculture products is strong and increasing, fish farmers
remain
frustrated by the lack of progress in resolving government
impediments to the growth of their industry."
For six years, the report indicates, Ontario's aquaculture
industry
has operated under an "unofficial moratorium" on significant
growth
resulting from regulatory constraints. Total production has
remained
effectively stalled within the range of 4,000 metric tonnes,
plus or
minus 10 percent, since 1996.
"No new cage culture sites have been approved during the past
year
and likely will not be approved in the near future," the report
reads. "For cage operations, the process involved in obtaining a
new
license has become unreasonable; the application procedure can
take
years to complete and demands a large financial commitment with
no
assurance that the rules governing approval won't change
arbitrarily."
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Credit Union employees headed back to work |
by Neil Zacharjewicz
MANITOULIN - Starting today, it is business as usual for the
Espanola
and District Credit Union.
On Sunday, October 19, the employees of the Espanola District
and
Credit Union, who are members of the Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) Local 74-1, voted 71 percent
in
favour of ratifying a new contract with their employer. The vote
means employees will be back to work after nearly four months on
the
picket lines when they return to work today.
According to Fred Bond, national representative for CEP Local
74-1,
the parties, who were called back to the bargaining table by a
negotiator on Tuesday, October 14, reached a tentative deal late
last
Thursday. The members of CEP Local 74-1 had been on the picket
lines
since voting 87.5 percent in favour of rejecting a proposal from
the
credit union on Sunday, June 22.
"We have been successful," Mr. Bond said. "The employer came
back and
settled the issues we had on the table."
Mr. Bond explained that, while the unionized workers did not
receive
everything they were seeking in the negotiations, the union's
negotiating team did feel the agreement was good enough to be
taken
back to its members. He added that he would like to thank the
credit
union for its willingness to come back to the table and address
the
issues.
"I'm glad the strike is over," confessed Bill Elliott, chair of
the
Espanola and District Credit Union's board of directors. "I
think we
are all relieved the strike is over and that we will be getting
our
staff back to serving our membership."
"You never get everything you want to achieve in a negotiation,
but
I'm sure the other side would tell you the same thing," he
added.
The Espanola District Credit Union and CEP Local 74-1 have
reached a
five-year deal, achieving an agreement both parties could agree
to on
the three major areas of concern for the union: seniority,
issues
surrounding supervisors performing bargaining unit work, and a
guarantee of the benefit package.
"That was the deal breaker if those issues couldn't have been
dealt
with," Mr. Elliott stated.
On the issue of seniority, the new agreement states that the
credit
union will develop minimum standards for each position, and if
someone in the chain of seniority does not meet those
qualifications,
the credit union is free to hire someone from outside of the
organization. In the event that a current employee is already
taking
the necessary training, they would be considered to have the
minimum
qualifications.
On the issue of the long-term disability benefits, the credit
union
has agreed to continue to pay wages of employees awaiting a
ruling by
the medical referee. If a claim is not validated, then the
employee
would be required to pay back that amount of money to the credit
union.
Finally, on the issue of supervisors performing bargaining unit
work,
it was agreed that commercial and agricultural loans were never
strictly the work of bargaining unit employees, so supervisors
are
not limited from performing these tasks. On the issue of
personal
loans, the new agreement states that supervisors may only
undertake
this task when members of the bargaining unit are not available.
"This was our concern all along," Mr. Elliott indicated,
pointing out
that the credit union could not very well tell its members to
"come
back next week" because bargaining unit staff was not available.
These members could just as easily walk across the street to
another
financial institution, he noted.
Mr. Elliott noted the negotiating committee also resolved to
adjust
the wage scale by 50 cents for each of the five years of the
contract.
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