Butt hurt? Please, I did work for ECO for a little while and was eventually fired, but I screwed up big time and I don’t hold any grudges against the company for my mistake. I could go on for paragraphs about how that was a blessing in disguise and the short of it is that sometimes you have to man up and take the long road around. What I did learn while there is that they are no better or worse then any body else. I could probably go back to them now, but the lack of even time from the get go puts them on the hell no list.
As for did ECO ever sale a boat with it’s crew sure did. Ever here of the subsidiary Delta Towing? Sold out to Crosby a few years ago.
For the most part I think the coordinators are lazy and view most of the boat crew and a burden. Instead of trying to work with the crews they dictate terms and because there is always a line out the door of people waiting to take your place why should they put up with any push back. Never felt like there was a push to cultivate talent and keep it. I can’t remember what they next guys up, the coordinators boss where called, but it always pissed me off to know end how the coordinators ran around afraid to tell that guy any bad news, hell any news really. Loved that any time the boat broke down you had to call the office and they would let the oil company know what was up, great when you’re sitting at the dock not able to go any where and you can’t tell the dispatcher why and have to wait an hour for it to get to him. But my personal favorite was when I was running one of the old triple screw crew boats and I had two mains go down while headed out. Called the man on call to tell him I’m turning around and to line a mechanic up. His response was “What do you mean you can’t make the run on one engine?” Thank god I never had to call and tell them I couldn’t run because of fog.
They also would put a boat on a job with 10 guys on it but only 8 bunks. If I have to share a room with some one else at the same time fine, but to have to start hot bunking? That’s bullshit, and I was not about to start sleeping on seats like I saw a few guys do.
Had a person fail a breathalyzer on the boat, anybody else pack your bags you’re fired, but do to this persons connections to the Alaskan Oil Agency they got a pass, and where back on the boat the next day.
Would run into a few guys after I was fired and they would tell me how because the times where slow the office was looking for anything to give them a reason to fire or at least punish you buy putting you on the beach for several weeks. One story I heard was a Captain got the blame for a crew members pay roll being messed up, but the crew member had been bouncing around the fleet going to a different boat every few days and the coordinator had lost one of the pay roll sheets or forgot to add the one day that the guy was one a boat. So he did what they all do over there, instead of manning up he passed it off to the boats.
At least HOS or Seacor has the balls to lay you off and pay the unemployment tax verses ECO firing guys for piddle shit so they don’t have to.
Enough proof that ECO pulls the same shit that every other boat company does?
What I’m tired of is the fact that ECO is held as the best that is out there when they are no better then anybody else. Glad you’re happy working with them, but I’m very pragmatic with a healthy dose of cynicism thrown in for good measure. Any company that goes around talking about how “We are all family” is full of shit, and ECO is the worst with it, but there are a ton over there that eat it up so why change what works.
Lets just call it what it is. I’m an employee I come to work, get paid, go home. They are an employer, they provide me work, they make money off of my work, give me a portion of that. We are both free exist this agreement as we see fit when either one of our goals no longer align.
You say you don’t worship at the Orange alter, then why did you start a thread bashing a company you don’t work for with claims that in the end don’t make any sense, and make claims that ECO would NEVER play those type of games with it’s employes. Did you even take a second to think about it before you came to GCaptain to spread the latest gossip around Fourchon? Why would Harvey work so hard to attract captains with DP then stick them on a tug just to have it sold off soon after? If it was in fact some AB’s, which is more believable, sometimes for the sale to happen the boats need to be fully crewed and an AB is easier to replace then an Officer. Also it’s not like they can’t ever go back to Harvey if that’s where they really want to work.