This sounds like the absolute worst job in the entire market. wonder why any reasonable person would take this.
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Why doesn’t someone post Crowley’s United Steel Workers, Local 4959 union contract?
The union should be proud of the great job it’s doing for its members. Union members should be crowing about, or condemning, the contract.
Crowley is too big with too much turnover to keep its wages a secret. Let’s hear it!
The boat owners are all talking with each other about how to keep wages as low as possible. Mariners need to be talking with each other about how to raise them.
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A lot of what he describes is fairly accurate, but these are far from the worst jobs in Alaska, or in most of the US tugboat trade.
He oddly failed to specify what he called the “low base rate” or what, if any, the add one are to that base rate.
We’ve heard 10 days of vacation pay and nine holidays mentioned by the Crowley office.
I think most people south of Sandy Hook would be impressed with the Crowley Western Alaska day rates. Probably, few people in Alaska or LA/LB, SF Bay, Seattle, or NY would be prompted change jobs for the pay.
Many companies in Alaska do two things to try to get the guys to work the entire season without quitting: First, they pay insurance for all year around if you work the full season; second, they have some form of completion bonus.
Here is some information I have discovered: Crowley has several boats operating in the Western Alaskan trade with differing unions. Both MMP Inland and USW (United States Steel Workers) Local 4959 - Not 5000. Both unions are top to bottom and cover both the deck and engine departments on their vessels, there is no separate union for engineers i.e. MEBA. The MMP Inland boats are the wire tug Sea Prince and the new ATB Aurora/ Qamun. These boats operate more of the year but are higher paying than the USW and have more of vacation/ some sort of rotation. They also are larger and have a cook. The USW Local 4959 vessels are the Siku, Avik, Nachik, Sesok, and Toolik River. They are shallow draft push/ wire boats. They have no cook and work on a seasonal basis and are lower paying than the MMP boats. I am also told, in addition to the lower pay they also withhold a percentage of your pay as incentive for you to complete the season. The USW Local 4959 apparently also covers the Crowley Alaskan tank farm employees and truck drivers, I don’t know how they have come to control some of the tugs. So @Gregevans30, if you want to work with Crowley in Alaska. It seems the right move is to make sure you get on the MMP Inland vessels mentioned above. This will also give you the opportunity to move to other MMP Inland vessel in the future.
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Thank you for that, particularly that it’s Local 4959.
For some reason, I was under the impression that Sea Prince and the new ATB are managed and crewed by the Crowley Seattle office, and that’s why they are a different union.
Are they vertical MMP, or MMP & IBU?
I’m pretty sure that’s the case. They aren’t technically Western Alaska fleet.
I’m pretty sure they are MMP/IBU. I’m unaware of any top to bottom MMP tugs at Crowley.
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He oddly failed to specify what he called the “low base rate” or what, if any, the add one are to that base rate.
$515/day base rate for 2nd Mate with Tankerman PIC (after signing the agreement for no overtime pay)
I calculated all the extras at one point and the Union provided a column on the offer for the 2020 season of what all those added up to but I can’t recall.
Keep in mind To qualify for the end of season bonus and holiday pay you have to return for the following season, which you have to sign an agreement to do so if you want to retain your health insurance during the off season, IIRC.
With those credentials and that level of responsibility in a place with very harsh conditions on terrible equipment I’d say it’s pretty low.
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Does the 515 include the money they give you after the season, the holiday pay, and the vacation pay? And this seems like the USW wage?
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No, that was the base rate (including the “in lieu of overtime” pay) That’s not including any benefits, training pay or end of season bonus, unemployment or holiday pay (which you would get you plan to do more than one season) I had all of the day rates as well as “calculated with benefits” rates from a union printout at one point, can’t seem to find it at the moment. I can only give you what I know and that is what 2M makes and for the Steelworkers Union.
If it’s not in your normal rate, I wouldn’t count on receiving it but you probably will, it’s just not promised.
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When a company only provides five months a year of seasonal employment (with about 14 days off somewhere near the middle of the season), they
need to be paying a lot more than $515 for a mate.
They also need to realize that there are seven more months in the year and that most guys are going to need to work elsewhere. Many are going to stick with their new jobs and not comeback.
Another thing. The average employee in America works 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year, totaling 2000 hours. For that he earns 12 months of benefits, especially insurance.
When someone theoretically works 12 hours a day for 150 days, that’s 1800 hours right there. Of course they are on the boat subject to all the company rules 24 hours a day, and the off watch call outs far exceed another 200 hours.
What Crowley and the union, and many other boat companies need to admit is that when some works 2000 hours, they have already earned a full year of benefits.
Promises to come back next season and other conditions to be met, in exchange for 12 months of benefits, are bullshit.
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The USW Local 4959 does a lot of chest thumping about “stand(ing) up and fight(ing) for better” for being such a crap union. It looks like Crowley Western Alaska and some branch of BP are the only contracts it has.
This is basically a “company union.”
Here is what they have on their website:
About Us
We are the United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union. We’re 1.2 million members and retirees strong in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. We proudly represent men and women who work in nearly every industry there is. Our members are leaders in your communities, in your work places, in our governments and more. We have a presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, England, Scotland, Mexico and many other places around the world.
We believe in better. We stand up and fight back for better. We work for working families around the world.
Officers
Jeremy Grenville
Local Union - 2nd Vice President Crowley Group
Pete McKay
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Dan Myrick
Crowley Group Negotiations Committee
Jon Radek
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Fritz Guenther
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Randy Knowles
Local Union Officer - Trustee
Jesse Legner
BP Unit Officer - Chief Steward
Jesse Legner
Local Union Officer - 2nd Vice Presdent BP Group
Tim Stumo
Local Union Officer - Trustee
Kris Dye
Local Union Officer - President
Pete McKay
Local Union Officer - 1st Vice President
Pete McKay
BP Unit Officer - 1st Vice Chairman
Dustin Every
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Rose Lee Wentz
Local Union Officer - Recording Secretary
Jeremy Grenville
Crowley Group Negotiations Committee - Chairman
Glenn Trimmer
Local Union Officer - Secretary Treasurer
James Spinka Jr.
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Alan Wallis
BP Unit Officer - 2nd Vice Chairman
Tyler Peterson
Crowley Group Negotiations Committee
Jesse Legner
BP Group Negotiations Committee
Marc Kovac
Local Union Officer - Guard
Kris Dye
BP Group Negotiations Committee - Chairman
Hank Ulery
Crowley Group Negotiations Committee
Fritz Guenther
BP Group Health and Safety Representative
Vacant Vacant
Local Union - 2nd Vice President Sitka Hotel Group
Mark McCarty
BP Group Health and Safety Representative
Kris Dye
BP Unit Officer - Unit Chairman
Local 4959
4548 Shellridge Road N.W.
Olympia, WA 98502
Civil & Human RightsFight Back AmericaPACRapid ResponseSOARUSPAActivist
If I may, I’d like to correct a couple of things here.
We run 6 tug and barge sets in Western Alaska and the Arctic that are crewed by USW crews. Toolik River, Aku, Avik, Sesok, Siku, and Nachik. We also run the Sea Prince, which is also a line-haul, not an ATB. The Sea Prince is crewed by the MMP (wheelhouse) and the IBU (deck and engine). All of these boats are seasonal, including the Sea Prince.
Yes, we are hiring for 2022 and I am more than happy to discuss wages, benefits, season, positions, or anything else you’re interested in. Send me a note and we’ll set up a time for a call.
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Funny. Sounds like most politicians but they never say what they have done, only spout BS.
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I was under impression from news articles that the new ATB (Aurora/Qamun) was operating in Western Alaska and therefore part of the Western Alaska Crowley Fleet. Therefore, what part of Crowley manages the Aurora/Qamun ATB?
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IIRC, news reports called the new 100,000 bbl ATB “Alaska Class”. That implies that they may be building more of them for Alaska. It’s a nice looking vessel.
The Seattle or SF Bay offices have the expertise, staff, and desire to manage the West Coast ATB fleet. I don’t know, but that might be a bit beyond the skill set of the Western Alaska Fuels Division. They are small vessel, shallow water, beach landings, in tiny outports specialists.
The Sea Prince is a 1970s vintage tug. A great many PNW mariners have sailed on her. She was looking quite rundown, but they gave her a paint job last year. She looks pretty good from 200 yards, but she is near the end of her life cycle. It would not surprise me if Crowley Seattle was anxious to pawn off management of the old Sea Prince onto the Western Alaska office.
Probably, the union contract with MMP requires that Sea Prince must remain MMP, for as long as any division of Crowley operates it.
Once upon a time, Crowley Seattle was probably Crowley’s biggest operation. It was the biggest tug and barge operation in Alaska, but now it has shrunk to only ship assist and escort tugs in Puget Sound. If Seattle is running any line haul wire tugs, it’s damn few.
At one time Crowley did not sell older tugs as it upgraded its fleet. They had a lot of old boats permanently moored. But in recent decades, they have sold off nearly all of their older boats in the PNW. They have been fixed up and kept in service by smaller companies. I’ll be surprised if Sea Prince is not sold within the next couple of years.
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The western Alaska fleet isn’t all the boats operating in western Alaska, or at least it didn’t used to be. The wire boats pulling barges for Alaska logistics and oil barges delivering oil from the mainland were always Seattle boats manned by MMP and IBU. The western Alaska fleet were the (primarily) inland boats. That could have changed now that Crowley’s offshore wire boat presence in western Alaska is nearly non existent.
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The new ATBs DO work in Western Alaska, and they are crewed out of our Seattle Crewing office.
I can’t speak to all of the ins and outs of Crowley’s fleets and which division “owns” each boat, but for the purpose of this discussion, the six smaller, shallow draft sets and the Sea Prince are all crewed under the Western Alaska/Crowley Fuels “umbrella” and ALL of those boats are seasonal; we lay them up over the Winter.
The new ATBs that work in Western Alaska also work farther south and are crewed up year-round all with the rest of Crowley’s West Coast ATB fleet.
At this time, all crewing for Crowley tug boats/ATBs is done through the Seattle office, and all the crewing for the ships/liners is done in Jacksonville.
Here’s a link that shows all the equipment that is part of the Crowley Fuels Western Alaska division. Western Alaska Fuel Delivery ~ Crowley
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A common denominator of many employers is that none are perfect. Working in Alaska is not for the faint of heart. Show up, work hard, save your money, and move on if you choose to do so. At the very least, you will get to experience a part of the world that many people do not get to see and it will make every job that you take afterward feel easy.
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If anyone is “on the fence” about working for Crowley’s Western Alaska fleet - we have just increased our end-of-season bonus by 2.5 times. We are still actively hiring for the 2022 season.
What’s going on with Crowley Western Alaska?
I heard a rumor that they left two boats out of service for lack of crew. Actually, that they just were not willing to pay what it takes to get crew in 2022. Any truth to this?
It’s hard to believe that they would forego selling millions of gallons of fuel to avoid paying 4 key guys a little more. That would be crazy?
I’d sooner believe that if they left any boats out of service it because of lack of business.
By the way, what are they paying this year?