yes, have to remind myself once in a while when I’m home. Mostly When i catch myself in the kitchen with a mop and 5 gallon bucket of bleach water.
[QUOTE=NYK;177571]Wow that took a negative downward spiral quick, I came down here to build experience to eventually go back home cause no one wanted to hire a green OS in NY, that’s kinda depressing that I’ll be limited to employers because I got my start in the oil patch.[/QUOTE]
If you have roots in the Northeast, or PNW, you can find a job there. You may need to explain your fling with the oil patch, but you can do that. At the AB level, companies are going to be more concerned about whether you can fit in, and make it, then they are about whether you will stay when the next oil boom comes along in a few years.
There are still tugboat jobs to be had, if you look hard enough, although it may pay less than a couple years ago. There is really no need for a tug owner to pay over $200 a day for a trainee AB. There are guys looking who would do it for $100.
Ummmm Bouchard does hire mariners that worked on mudboats…so does Moran and Reinauer. This driving wages thing down also??? Not so sure how factual that is. Anyone take a paycut or working for $100/day up here? I almost missed the self proclaimed expertise that some have up here, about marine sectors, hiring practices, or events that they know nothing about, yet babble their mouths!
when the GM says “why should we give you a raise when there’s dozens of laid off GOM guys who want your job?” Sounds like driving down wages to me, unless we should forego raises and just continue to make the same.
Don’t you work for a union company? Shouldn’t your raises be already set? How many laid off GOM guys have their TOAR and recency anywhere in the Northeast? When all the guys jumped and left up here, did you guys get a huge pay raise? Didn’t the last union contract include a big fat 0% at the start, even when the Gulf was hot and heavy? I think all this chatter is reverberation of the jealousy that was going on when the wages were so much higher in the Gulf! Be thankful you didn’t jump, or the fact that you couldn’t, and enjoy that you have a job and can pay your bills. There are lots of family guys that made the jump to better there family and now paying the price without being able to find good work.
They DO hire mudboat guys. But, Bouchard in particular doesn’t prefer it. Reinauer and Moran ARE even MORE selective and can afford to be. I know you were a NE engineer and made the jump successfully to the OSV world. Congrats and I’m glad it worked out for you. No need to get all worked up over some opinions on here. This discussion is no different from any live galley table discussion that happens weekly on any given tugboat in the NE. I have over 12 years of experience on NE tugboats and am perfectly qualified to give my stinky opinion on the subject if I so please. AND I currently work for one of the NY tug/barge companies in question. So there!! Nanny nanny boo boo!! Lmfao
Relax ForkandBlade. Nobody is questioning your decision to better your career and nobody is questioning your decision to make more $$$$. We are all looking for the BBD whether we admit and/or pull the trigger at the end of the day. I’m just glad it didn’t work out for me and I think Bayrunner came to the same conclusion…in terms of getting hired in the oil patch. And yes, I DO certainly think the wages have been driven down to some degree overall with southern people and companies now doing business in the NE. Kirby and Vane in particular have had a hand in that for the past 5-8 years.
Kirby and vane can suck mah bag!
That’s pretty sad…For $100/day I’ll go be a Walmart greeter.
mostly wrong. Contracts aren’t perpetual; you have to re-negotiate every few years. Ours never was a 0. You need to think outside the Kirby box. Also some of us never tried to leave and have been happy all along.
[QUOTE=Blake;177613]That’s pretty sad…For $100/day I’ll go be a Walmart greeter.[/QUOTE]
For the young unemployed mudboat deckhand, or fisherman in a down and out fishery, the chance to get room and board, seatime toward AB without an OSV restriction, build some skills, and his foot in the door on tugs, and whatever else the company is promising (maybe some “free” school), plus $100 a day, is not a bad place to start. Not bad at all — to start.
I would rather have beginner deckhands who are doing it for the opportunity to pay their dues, learn, and build a career as a mariner, than are just doing it for awhile until they can afford a good car and find an ok shore job. I am tired of the non-mariner whinny punks who just want the money.
This is the time of year when I’m looking for fill in jobs. A year ago there were more good paying tugboat jobs than I could handle. Now tugboat jobs are hard to find and owners offer to pay less. I have heard several times “we have a huge stack of resumes from guys that have come back from the Gulf.”
Tugboat companies on the West Coast seem to have the usual amount of business, and they have had their fuel costs cut by at least 50%. Now, they can afford to give long overdue raises, but they just don’t have to.
This coming year, I want to run a newer and better equipped boat. I’ll probably be taking a pay cut to do it.
I’m always looking for green local guys to fill deckhand spots. Send me your resume and I’ll put you on the list.