After a strike lasting several months the plant was nationalized by the provincial government and a collective bargaining agreement was signed by it and the union.

In 1971, as the result of pressure from the FFAW Newfoundland became the first Canadian province to recognize the collective bargaining rights of fishery workers when[5] the Newfoundland House of Assembly passed the Fishing Industry Collective Bargaining Act which gave inshore fishers the right to negotiate their prices.

[1] By 1977, the union was negotiating province-wide master contracts with the industry as a whole represented by the Fisheries Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The union also waged a successful campaign for workers compensation in the fishing industry with a law being passed by the House of Assembly in 1981.

[13] On December 3, 2019, Cleary announced the dissolution of FISH-NL after it failed to gain the necessary 4000 signatures after a second membership drive to trigger a ratification vote.