Unionized trawler workers continued to occupy the wharf in Bay Roberts on Monday morning to stop non-unionized workers from taking their jobs.

The crew of the Newfoundland Lynx set up the blockade to the ship on Sunday afternoon, erecting a tent on the wharf.

They said Ocean Choice International, the company which owns the Newfoundland Lynx, locked them out.

"They're going to take our boat right from under out feet," fumed crew member Sam Rideout. "Thirty-five years seniority with a company and all of a sudden they're going to give it to somebody, they don't care where they come from."

Greg Pretty, the industrial director with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, said union members are determined not to let anyone on board the Lynx:

"This is D-Day here for Newfoundland jobs," declared Pretty. "This company has destroyed communities, destroyed lives, and now are about to take on the trawlermen of this province. And that has to stop."

Pretty told CBC News the mood was tense Monday morning. He said union members were ready for a confrontation with replacement workers Sunday night, but there wasn't one.

A busload of non-unionized workers arrived in Bay Roberts late Sunday night, but left town after the RCMP advised them to do so, for their own safety.

Company fires back

Meanwhile, Ocean Choice International CEO Martin Sullivan described the FFAW's actions as "incredible antics," and accused the union leadership of seeking retribution for recent plant closures.

"We've been told on several occasions that if we close Marystown, they were going to bring the company to its knees," Sullivan told CBC News. "We've been threatened now, three or four times, by this union, which is totally out of control in our view."

Sullivan says it's well-known that the vessel in question — the Newfoundland Lynx — pays the best. He believes the union is using the vessel as a pawn in a larger fight.

"It's not about money. It's certainly not about money at all. It's about the bigger agenda of the union to try to bring us down because of what's going on elsewhere."

The company had to hire replacement workers to keep its fishing fleet operation, Sullivan added, after being informed by the union of pending strike action.