The Fishermen's Union Trading Company (F.U.T.C.), a limited liability company, was founded in 1911 to be the commercial arm of the

Fishermen's Protective Union The Fishermen's Protective Union (sometimes called the Fisherman's Protective Union, the FPU, The Union or the Union Party) was a workers' organisation and political party in the Dominion of Newfoundland. The development of the FPU mirrored tha ...

(FPU).''

Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador ''Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador'' is an encyclopedia commissioned by Joey Smallwood to capture the people, places, events and history of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Smallwood's view on the purpose of the encyclopedia was ...

'', Volume two, page 187 Its mandate, as set out by William Coaker, founder of the FPU, was to be the agent for cooperative purchasing of supplies by

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

along the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

and to also serve as a cooperative marketing agent of their fish catches.

Purpose

As part of the greater movement by Coaker to organize the fishermen along the coast by the formation of the FPU, it was necessary to establish a trading company to combat the credit or

truck system Truck wages are wages paid not in conventional money but instead in the form of payment in kind (i.e. commodities, including goods and/or services); credit with retailers; or a money substitute, such as scrip, chits, vouchers or tokens. Truc ...

existing at that time. Fishermen were encouraged to purchase shares which were then used to buy goods and sold back to the fishermen at cost. In eight years with 4,421 shareholders and over 40 stores, the annual trade of fish and supplies was in excess of $3 million.

Expansion

In 1913 the company purchased the Crosbie premises at St. John's and the steamship ''Kintail''. The steamship was renamed the ''Can’t Lose''. Upon the building of a new settlement called Port Union complete with wharves and housing facilities the headquarters were moved there in 1918. By 1928, with a

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles * Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Be ...

of thirty

schooners A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail ...

and three

steamers Steamer may refer to: Transportation * Steamboat, smaller, insular boat on lakes and rivers * Steamship, ocean-faring ship * Screw steamer, steamboat or ship that uses "screws" (propellers) * Steam yacht, luxury or commercial yacht * Paddle st ...

it was recognized as one of the largest mercantile companies in Newfoundland and by 1937 it was identified as the largest.

Decline and closure

Although the company was the third largest exporter of

salt cod Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export o ...

from

, it had limited capital to respond to changes in the industry. With the decline of the salt cod industry in Newfoundland in the 60s and early 70s the company suffered decline. In May 1977,it went into receivership on default of a $440,000 bank loan.

References

External links

Fishermen's Union Trading Company Limited (Greenspond) fonds, 1914-1922

Map of Fishermen's Union Trading Company (FUTC) Stores
{{Authority control Economy of Newfoundland and Labrador Organizations based in Newfoundland and Labrador Worker cooperatives of Canada Political organizations based in Canada Fishing organizations 1910s establishments in Newfoundland 1911 establishments in North America Organizations established in 1911