News
Alaska Marine Highway Update |
 |
| Posted by Darryl (darryl) on Jul 30 2009 | |
| News >> AMHS BU |
Crazy Summer
For many years the IBU has warned AMHS of the shortage of qualified and trained mariners. Through the last four negotiating cycles, the Union’s message has been consistent; finding qualified and dependable crew members will become more difficult as the Baby Boomers leave the work force. With the maritime workforce slowly shrinking, it would require the state to treat their employees with respect and be more competitive in wages and benefits. Unfortunately, personal agendas and the shortsighted vision of past Administrations that have come and gone chose to ignore that message. AMHS merrily continued down the path well traveled by previous managers and simply chose to react to the next emergency that came along.
This summer has been brutal for many of our members. The orders from this administration were to cut the costs of vessel operation this fiscal year. That translated into hiring less new hires and reducing training expenses for both existing and new employees. Every week scores of our members are held over and crews are working shorthanded. Midway, through our summer season it appears that there will be no relief in sight. AMHS called for help asking the IBU to locate prospective employees but there is no way we will be able to cover the gap before RIF. It is true we have lost members to MEBA and MM&P but these are expected losses and are predictable. Dispatch tried to blame the shortage on our membership calling in sick but the numbers did not add up. I have heard about desperate crew members at wits end working up to six weeks in a row. If anyone has issues, questions or concerns regarding being held over please contact me through the e-mail address above or by calling the Juneau Office.
The path to becoming a new hire is fraught with uphill battles, barriers and has more in common with a reality show featuring participants in a cross country scavenger hunt than applying for a job as a Merchant Mariner. For those of the 47 new hires in the class of 2009, congratulations and welcome aboard and get the work while you can.
A Long Cold Winter
The coming RIF period looks bleak for our AMHS Bargaining Unit. With most of our vessels laid up or in overhaul could prove to be worse than our last winter. It is difficult for us to know at this point how far reaching RIF will take us this year. The worse year in memory for me was entry level Stewards working with 70 Company Points. This year could be close to that; my suggestion is for our new hires are to work as much as you can this summer. The forecast is for a long cold winter ahead for AMHS.
Four Week Dispatch Schedule
As we move forward with our new terms and conditions of our Collective Bargaining Agreement, one of the more positive changes was the four week dispatch schedule. Both Crew Scheduling and the IBU are slowly going through the process to work out any unforeseen “bugs”. We will still be sending out weekly crew dispatch lists that will include any last minute Sick Leave requests and on board upgrades. Whenever we prepare for negotiations with the state, we create a “Wish List” developed from bargaining unit input. On top of the list since I’ve been a member has been the right to know whether vacation was approved or not. Finding out on a Friday that my vacation request was approved and I didn’t have to report to work on a Monday did not provide me an opportunity to plan or even purchase airline tickets in advance. As directed, your Negotiating Committee pushed the State to agree to some kind of advanced approval of time off. As we went through the negotiation process, the parties agreed upon a resolution with a four week dispatch. We all understood that there were going to be challenges to work out and not all of them could be found before we started. Pete Lapinski and I will be fielding responses from the members so please let us know your thoughts.
New Contract
I have been checking in every few days with Labor Relations regarding the “Working Draft” of our new contract. Once the “Draft” is complete the State will review the document, send it to us, and after we proof read the document and verify it to be a final draft, we will send it off to the printers. The State has the responsibility to distribute the contract to the bargaining unit, and in the past, have printed them for the IBU members. But while in discussion over the cost, the State claims that posting the contract on the state web site would be sufficient enough to meet the state statute. The plan is to have contract books out to all the vessels and available in our offices for our members before fall.
Split Wages
The discussion over the loss of the Split Wage language will never end and I suppose that I and the rest of your Negotiating Committee will be blamed for years for losing it. In the end a majority of our bargaining unit voted the language away when they approved the Tentative Agreement. If you voted against the TA then you have a right to gripe, if you were one of the 400+ who did not vote at all, well…
During the final hours of negotiations with the State, we were forced to pick the lesser of two evils. The state’s negotiating spokesperson simply said this Administration wants some IBU “blood” and it was going to get it one way or another. It was a calculated attack by your employer to squeeze something out of us. The decision was simple, lose our Pass and Retiree Pass privileges or lose “Split Wages” which was less than 1/3 of 1% of the total payroll. Your Negotiating Committee believed that we had no choice. The intention of AMHS was not to shorthand the vessels of crew members of the necessary manning in the future. The State claimed that overtime was all the hammer we needed, both parties believed any shortage of crew members would increase the OT paid to the remaining crew, with AMHS Operations constantly harassed by the Administration to keep OT pay down, we guardedly agreed, knowing it would create a challenge for the State to keep their word. We have briefed most of our Chief Stewards, impressing upon them the importance of keeping an eye on Dispatch and the necessity of keeping the State honest. OT must be paid to the existing crew members aboard each vessel whenever they were shorthanded. For the most part, all our Chief Stewards understood the situation we were in, and know that if we do not keep Crew Scheduling honest their jobs will become more and more difficult when they are told to maintain the same service with less and less crew.
Last changed: Jul 30 2009 at 2:58 PM
Back