N.B. mayor calls on federal government to help laid off workers at Connors Bros.

As New Brunswick government officials prepare to meet with laid-off Connors Bros. employees, the area’s mayor says federal government officials should also be on the ground helping workers.

On Thursday, Connors Bros. Clover Leaf Seafoods announced a 20 per cent cut to the workforce at its Blacks Harbour plant.

The company hasn’t publicly confirmed the exact number of jobs lost, but estimates suggest up to 150 workers were given six-weeks notice. As many as 450 people work at the plant during certain times of the year.

“I know just about everybody who works at this plant so it’s disheartening to see this amount of a permanent layoff,” says John Craig, mayor of Eastern Charlotte. "It’s going to hurt our area financially and all the businesses in the area.”

Employees handed a layoff notice will meet next week with provincial government officials at an event in nearby Saint George.

“It would be nice for a representative from the federal government to come down and try and explain to the people what is happening,” says Craig. “We have to be here to help the people, and the federal government should be here as well, trying to help people.”

A statement from Connors Bros. on Thursday said the 20 per cent cut was due to reduced herring quotas implemented by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. The department says the quota reductions of about 24 per cent until 2027 are necessary in order to replenish critically low fish stocks in local waters.

In a written statement Friday, the federal department wouldn’t confirm its attendance at the meeting saying “we recognize the economic impacts this decision will have on the families and communities that rely on income from fishing and processing herring,” – repeating a statement also issued by the department when quota reductions were first announced in July.

Craig says he’s optimistic that Blacks Harbour’s location between Saint Stephen and Saint John will make it able to absorb the job losses “so a lot of people will still continue to call this area their home, I’m hoping,”

Connors Bros. has operated out of Blacks Harbour for more than 130 years, with its canned sardines sold in more than 40 countries.

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