KETCHIKAN - Union fish processing workers want to buy one of the Wards Cove Packing Co. salmon plants targeted for closure.
The workers of E.C. Phillips & Son in Ketchikan announced their interest Jan.7 through the International Longshoreman and Warehousemen Union Local 200, Unit 61.
ILWU has chosen to aggressively pursue an employee purchase of E.C. Phillips.
ILWU Local 200 Executive Board Member Robert Orr said no official vote has been taken, but most Unit 61 workers approve of pursuing the purchase.
E.C. Phillips employs about 50 full-time processing workers year-round, and the number nears 200 during the summer salmon season.
Orr said most of the full-time workers remain employed at E.C. Phillips, one of the nine seafood processing plants in Alaska to be sold by Seattle-based Wards Cove Packing.
Wards Cove Chairman Alec Brindle announced in December the company's decision to exit the salmon processing business after more than 70 years. The company will continue its crab and pollock operations.
Wards Cove retained the Seattle investment banking firm of Zachary Scott & Co. to help sell its salmon-related properties.
