Big Paychecks Can’t Woo Enough Sailors for America’s Commercial Fleet

Maritime News
22

I can possibly throw some old, but helpful, numbers up here.

I enlisted in the USN in 1965, and commissioned Ensign in 1972. Spent 21 years as a SWO, retiring in Sep 1993 as a CDR (O-5).

At retirement, my ‘retainer’ pay was $3,204/month, with Champus/Tricare to serve as secondary to my health care from the Commonwealth of VA.

But my ‘retainer’ has COLA, and over the 32 years it is now $7,105/month. Tricare became Tricare for Life when I went on Medicare at age 65, and as a Medicare Supplement it is worth over $200/month. T4L also serves as our ‘insurance’ for medical prescriptions.

So all you spreadsheet experts can figure out how much you needed to put into that 401K, or other contributory investment program to be able to draw about $88K/yr.

Please note, I have no familiarity with the retirement programs you may have available, so I may be way off base here. Just wanted to throw some figures on the table.

1 Like
23

Bringing it back to the original WSJ article — this is exactly why I keep saying we need stronger, more aggressive leadership in MMP and MEBA. Everyone keeps talking about day rates and individual unions, but the core issue hasn’t changed in decades:

Licensed officers have almost zero real leverage, and our unions haven’t pushed hard enough for us.
Meanwhile, longshore unions are out there getting historic raises, using media pressure, political pressure, and public leverage. Our leadership would rather attend IMO dinners than get out in front and fight for the people actually running the ships.

Nowhere in the world should a Chief Mate on a U.S.-flagged commercial tanker be settling for sub-$300k when the workload, risk, liability, and stress level has gone through the roof. That number should have been normalized years ago.

And when people say “well the military doesn’t pay that,” they’re missing the point entirely. A USN LT(O-3) with around 10 years in has:
• tax-free BAH
• tax-free BAS
• free medical
• VA disability later in life
• retirement points
• state property tax exemptions in many places
• guaranteed promotion timelines
• and predictable stability

Then you look at the retired CDR above — he’s clearing almost $90k a year just in pension with COLA, not counting VA disability, not counting the tax advantages. That’s permanent, predictable income.

For comparison:
My own grandfather was MMP in the 1950s and his pension in modern dollars was massive — around $100k/year. The officers back then were valued. Today we’re trending backward while responsibility and workload have doubled.

This is exactly why the industry is bleeding people.
It’s not the pay alone — it’s the lack of leadership fighting for pay that actually reflects the modern job.

Until we have leadership willing to push like the longshore unions push, nothing changes. And mariners will keep leaving for the military, civil service, shore jobs, or anything with stability and benefits that actually match the sacrifices.

2 Likes
24

Ships need ports, and the longshoremen can bring the world to a halt if they aren’t happy. We, on the other hand, are alive on life support and barely tolerated.

The days you speak of with MMP were not far removed from the days where crews raised the gangway and refused to sail or touch a line till their demands were met — and they were. If that was pulled today, you bet your sweet ass we’d all be in jail and lose our licenses. Even union leadership wouldn’t come close to recommending such action today even in the most extreme possible cases.

1 Like
25

Not to mention that the ILU could care less which flag is on the stern of the ships they offload. They’re not dependent on the Jones Act being a thing. Cargo is cargo and it’s gotta be unloaded and loaded regardless. We could go away and it wouldn’t even be a ping on the radar to them.

1 Like
26

With those mindsets you gentlemen have, this why we are in the position we are in now. It’s supposed to be hard.

27

There’s also the fact that as active duty uniformed you are always working or on call unless in a leave or liberty status. No six on-three off or any of that business. You work year round at a duty station of the governments choosing subject to change every few years at the government’s choice and discretion to include a variety of domestic or foreign locations, many of which are not the most desirable for you or your family.

3 Likes
28

It’s called living in reality.

Union leadership and grit is nowhere near what it was in the 1960s and earlier. Big box carriers would just opt to flag out 100% and give us the finger without saying so much as a word.

We sold ourselves out decades ago. The latest move MMP members suggested was to bring in the same negotiators who worked out the raises/contracts for the airlines to help us out, but Josberger and Co. refused and doubled down on “tradition” and keeping things in house.

1 Like
29

Here you go, if you want to study up on how ALPA did what they did:

Keep in mind this created a two-tier, aka “rock star”, system, you were flying for a major carrier earning big ALPA bucks or earning bare subsistence wages hoping to make it to the big leagues.

30

The two tier system certainly exists here but the guys flying for pennies are flying turboprops on provincial routes. Our long haul flights are that- Auckland to New York with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. On the return trip if there is a head wind that is unexpected they divert for fuel.