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Thereās always some poor kid who doesnāt know any better that will take the job and take the bs. We were all that poor kid at one point. I think we owe it to each other and the kids that come after us to make things better even if we have to fight for it. Not leave the mess behind for someone else to clean up like some shitbird.
Smart man once said by bringing up the lowest rung everyone moves up.
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And the only effective way Iām aware of to do that, other than buying the business, is for enough people to quit that they have to start listening to labor. Or unionizeā¦
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From the paper shuffle I read Centerline is getting dressed up to be sold to the highest bidder at some point. The CEO has experience in things of this nature. To increase cost by paying higher wages would be not a good idea.
Vote with your feet.
Qualified mariners are damn hard for any company to replace these days. Deprive them of your services. Let them scramble to try to find qualified replacements.
Iāve recently seen help wanted ads from several California tug companies, Curtin, Pacific Tug, and at least one more, plus Foss, Crowley, Dunlap, Sauce Bros., and others have recently had ads out.
The OSV companies are hiring.
The SIU was advertising for mariners to join and fill available deep sea jobs.
I heard that SUP is looking for new members.
You are only screwing yourself and helping to suppress wages for other mariners by staying at Centerline. Run donāt walk.
If 20 captains, mates, tankermen or engineers told Centerline to shove it tomorrow, theyād have to tie up boats for days or weeks while they tried to find replacements. That would get managementās attention.
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They just had union elections in 2 locations and there are shops that are already union. Seems you know little about this Company. Now you know a little more.
Thatās true. I know basically nothing other than they operate tugs and Iāve seen a lot of help wanted ads by them on job boards for years now. Iāve also never claimed to know any more than that about the company.
There are union companies under their umbrella, with crappy SIU contracts.
They have pretty much eradicated the IBU in LA/LB. Last I heard they only had one boat that was still IBU. I think the Dutch Harbor guys are IBU as well.
You really donāt need to know how the sausage is made to determine if itās good or not. There canāt be a better time to walk out of the door if you are unhappy in this job market. Time is too short to be unhappy doing anything. Luckily, I only had to walk twice in 28 years and both times worked out for the better.
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Well it looks like centerline has pulled the wool over the eyes of their employees once again. I guess within the last few days they sent out a memo about charging all of their employees in their offshore fleet (the old Bouchard stuff) back travel deductions on their upcoming paychecks. I was hearing that guys are getting three to four flights deducted in their next paycheck dating back to November 2021. All after being promised paid travel amongst other things for guys coming over from places like Kirby to help get the Bouchard stuff up and off the ground. We sure are all a family here arenāt we? Feed the lion? More like eat a dick.
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Well that might be easy to address if they had a collective bargaining agreement with travel provisions. 
Donāt you hate it when you think youāre about to eat and they take it right back ? Typical.
Indeed. Feed the cowardly lion a bag of dicks.
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When I went to work for OTB they had you sign an agreement that you were responsible for getting yourself to and from Seattle.
So after a couple hitches of working in Alaska they came up with that you had to pay a portion of your ticket to Alaska and that they are only responsible for Seattle to Alaska. These were last minute plane tickets too mind you. Once in a while we did make a crew change in Seattle and I wasnāt disputing that, only disputing the rationale in paying a part of a last minute plane ticket somewhere other than Seattle.
It was also said that no matter where your boat is, you are responsible for your way to Seattle. So I asked how does that work if we are crew changing in SF? Seattle isnāt on the way there for me at least.
Needless to say I transferred shortly thereafter.
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These morons need money to pay for their dipshit labor attorneys who just about lose everything they touch. These attorneys have stretched out every NLRB case and wage lawsuit without settling. The attorneys are the only winners and the employees have to pay for it.
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Iām surprised MCQ hasnāt realized they have child at the helm that doesnāt know how to do anything but throw tantrums when he doesnāt get his way. Heās costing them a lot of money. The guy is a liability, they should can the guy and send him back to setting up phone systems and networks. Like before the old man took him under his wing. They really stepped in shit in SF and LAā¦LOSERSš¤”
Who knows, maybe 500 mil is just a drop in the bucket. Maybe this whole thing is a test bed for Jones Act and labor law violations to see how far things can be pushed for a larger agenda against organized labor on the West Coast.
I hear the litigation at the top is coming to a head. Anyone have any insight ?
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A child at the helm with a bunch of inexperienced yes men babies underneath. Who cares if our equipment functions correctly as long as our website fools people and looks cool.
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Western Towboat is a very good company, but I hear that they only pay travel from Seattle.
Years ago, travel only paid from Seattle to the boat use to be pretty standard, but most companies now pay airfare door to door.
A few companies pay full wages door to door.
I get that, but in this case the letter was written that if crew change was in Seattle, you got yourself there. That was fair and I agreed to it. The issue I had was a last minute plane ticket to western Alaska that I was somehow responsible for partially because Seattle was āon the way.ā
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Seattle has never had enough mariners to crew the boats. Thatās why there have always been a lot of guys from elsewhere.
If a company has a 14/14 schedule I can see why they would worry about airfare every two weeks.
If the guys are in 60 days or more, which is usually the case, itās a trivial expense. the least they can do is fly them all the way home.
Where are they going to find more guys willing to work 60 days plus?
Often companies that had official āget yourself to and from Seattleā policies would nonetheless fly some of us all the way out or all the way home. It was sort of a little bonus.
Often if it costs $1000 to fly someone from Alaska outports to Seattle, but itās only $1200 to fly them to the East Coast. What employer in their right mind is going to stick it to a good employee over $200? Thatās just stupid.
The Seattle fish companies think nothing of flying guys to and from Norway.
Today, most guys wonāt consider a job that does not have fully paid travel.
The guys who are putting up with this nonsense at Harley are just reenforcing a bad example.
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Just curious if anyone here has heard any more about potential Centerline sale. A midstream/downstream oil/gas company, Delek/$DK, recently made changes to their corporate bylaws to become Jones Act compliant. This of course begs the question of who is out there for sale? Centerline seems possible, but also $OSG had the offer from Saltchuk that fell through last year, and I have heard American Shipping Co wouldnāt mind selling some/all of their fleet (which $OSG leases from them currently). Thanks.