🔒Vinalhaven lobsterman makes case for unionizing

Vinalhaven lobstermen are leading a charge to organize under the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, the union also representing workers at Bath Iron Works. Leaders of the effort hope, among other things, that union bargaining power could increase the low prices lobstermen got from last season's abundant harvest. The action has reignited charges of price-fixing against dealers and processors, and lobstermen say they need their own union to push for better boat prices. In meetings around the state, the group has taken issue with the 50-year-old Maine Lobsterman's Association, the trade group representing multiple sectors of Maine's lobster industry. The MLA, which has about 1,200 members, says the new union offers false promises and that the MLA adequately represents lobstermen.

Mainebiz spoke recently with Riley Poole, a 29-year-old Vinalhaven lobsterman, about why he and nine others have decided to lead the unionizing effort. Nearly half of the new union's membership is based in Vinalhaven. The following is an edited transcript:

Mainebiz: What was the tipping point in deciding to form the union?

Riley Poole: The tipping point was last summer [when lobstermen received $1.25 per pound for lobster — not enough to pay for fuel.] To protest, there were boats tying up all up and down the coast last summer and in Vinalhaven most of the boats didn't go out for a whole week. Toward the end of the week, we were getting hit with threats [from the state Department of Marine Resources] that we're going to jail because we were price-fixing.

By the end, it didn't really do anything — dealers were able to get rid of some of their product and the price went up 50 cents and then immediately dropped around 30 cents — but we knew that we needed to do something. We knew we need to organize but we don't know how to do it.

If we're spread out and we're broken, you can do whatever you want to us individually. But if we're together and united, you can't just beat us down with a low price.

M: Where does the effort stand now?

RP: We're having meetings regularly [around the state]. We had one in Stonington and Winter Harbor. There was supposed to be one in Portland that was canceled and we had one in North Haven. We have the IAM reps there — Joel [Pitcher] and Jim Alexander — and talk about what the IAM is. We're trying to spread the word that way.

We have about 250 members. We've applied for the charter [with the IAM] and in the coming months we'll have to elect representatives and create bylaws. [Dues] will be around $12.05 a week. It's around $625 a year and part of that will stay in your local and part will go to the IAM for operating costs.

M: How important do you think a new union is for the industry?

RP: I think it's got to be done because I think — this is just speculation — but I feel and a lot of people feel that the dealers want to have 100 boats that fish Maine waters and have employees on those boats. They don't want to deal with 5,200-some-odd license holders that are angry lobstermen, you know what I mean? They want to deal with a certain small entity so they can control them and barter with them and have contracts. If we don't form this union, I think that's what's going to happen and then small-town coastal Maine, from Kittery to Cutler, will disappear and just be a ghost town.

M: Purchasing health care collectively has also been a part of the discussion. How important is that?

RP: A lot of the younger guys don't have it. Some of the older guys have it through their wives. We wanted to see if we could get better health insurance and wanted to buy into something [the union] has. If we can collectively get together and get a better rate, that will be huge. That would be worth my membership even if we couldn't do anything else.