[QUOTE=Ea$y Money;164517]This just in from a reliable source… Chouest is buying gCaptain for 2 billion dollars to get a list of everyone that has posted anything negative about Chouest… Frivolously![/QUOTE]
Thought I better come on here and talk nice Then, Maybe l’ll get my job back! Layoff for me, Got the call on 6-26, hey at least I got a call!, wasn’t really unexpected thou being a less than 1 year employee. Reality is this company really did help me with schooling, and experience I lacked with the newer boats, so I take that with me, and that can’t be taken away. I got lucky and found a new job the next day, not osv, but still a boat. Wish you all best of luck, who knows, call backs could actually happen…
Gotta say it came as a surprise to me. Never would have thought it. 401k benefit cuts etc. I have to understand though that it is just business. How many guys you seen just “riding the boat”’ no real contribution or effort on their part? Our engineers are offended if they are expected to do something besides call a mechanic and I’m on a big boat. The big companies have to and need to get rid of the “dead weight”. Any company would need to lose the unproductive. I think that HR was inundated with unemployment benefits paperwork from the many states that the guys come from now and figure if they cut the pay they will quit instead of layed off or terminated. Hopefully people staying will be taken care of in the future. Gotta say the company has been good to me so I will not be abandoning them anytime soon.
But for all you guys that been riding the boat just retire already and let the new generation progress. So happy many of you have overextended yourself so as I can buy a new vehicle and toys since I saved some money. Anybody got a house for sale yet in Texas or TN on a lake 2500 sq ft or more? Also would like a Denali xl 2013 or newer. Don’t need 4 wheelers or boats thanks.
[QUOTE=josh.reid24;164595]You choose to work at chouest, to work in this industry period… We all did… I’ve watched my older brother get laid off and hired back many times due to bust as well as my father, but we still choose to work out here… If you don’t like it go find a 9-5 at home… If you choose to stay here, suck it up, bite the bullet, and learn to save your money like the majority of us have learned to do…[/QUOTE]
That is very true. Don’t believe ANYTHING an employer tells you. His loyalty is to himself and not to you. If he tells you he will match your 401K or provide a certain benefit? Do not believe it ! Unless your employer signs a contract to provide a certain benefit he is under no obligation to you at all even though he may require you to sign a contract as a condition of employment. Say what you want about the pros and cons of unions but I am not aware of an employer deciding after the fact he was not going to contribute to a pension or 401K after he signed a contract.
You have to watch after yourself. Unlike other developed countries the USA has very few rights accorded to those who labor.When working non-union in the USA I always considered myself as an independent contractor. I owe nothing but a days work for a days pay and expected nothing else in return.
[QUOTE=dacook;164732]Gotta say it came as a surprise to me. Never would have thought it. 401k benefit cuts etc. I have to understand though that it is just business. How many guys you seen just “riding the boat”’ no real contribution or effort on their part? Our engineers are offended if they are expected to do something besides call a mechanic and I’m on a big boat. The big companies have to and need to get rid of the “dead weight”. Any company would need to lose the unproductive. I think that HR was inundated with unemployment benefits paperwork from the many states that the guys come from now and figure if they cut the pay they will quit instead of layed off or terminated. Hopefully people staying will be taken care of in the future. Gotta say the company has been good to me so I will not be abandoning them anytime soon.
But for all you guys that been riding the boat just retire already and let the new generation progress. So happy many of you have overextended yourself so as I can buy a new vehicle and toys since I saved some money. Anybody got a house for sale yet in Texas or TN on a lake 2500 sq ft or more? Also would like a Denali xl 2013 or newer. Don’t need 4 wheelers or boats thanks.[/QUOTE]
Call a mechanic? That is one thing that I never really understand about the oil patch. . . . when I sailed, I WAS my own mechanic. . . . At Crowley, if 3 power packs or less were to be changed while at the dock the engineer was expected to do it. More than that, Marine Systems would come down. On any other, the only time we called Marine Systems (or Stewart and Stevenson or similar) was when we were repacking the entire engine(s).
Buddy just called (captain) and he was told he was getting a 30+ percent pay cut as of tomorrow. His coordinator said that they had laid off 100 people last month and stacked 50 boats. He could take the new wage or leave it. Also heard ABs not considered “critical” whatever that means are at Os wages now.How’d you like to chip paint for basically dog shit? Can’t wait till the run happens and when oil comes back they can’t hire anyone new.
Got the word last week, 30-year veteran Captains all the way down to the OS’s: EQUAL TIME AGAIN!!! Same thing happened here during the moratorium, doesn’t bother the masses of Academy graduates that we have been stockpiling though as they’re already working equal time so " no worries" as they would say, despite the fact that many of them can’t even hold the watch on their own due to gross incompetency. Stickin’ it to the people that keep the lights on and the vessel afloat, AGAIN!
[QUOTE=cptjdaw;164831]Buddy just called (captain) and he was told he was getting a 30+ percent pay cut as of tomorrow. His coordinator said that they had laid off 100 people last month and stacked 50 boats. He could take the new wage or leave it. Also heard ABs not considered “critical” whatever that means are at Os wages now.How’d you like to chip paint for basically dog shit? Can’t wait till the run happens and when oil comes back they can’t hire anyone new.[/QUOTE]
Those numbers don’t add up. How do you stack 50 boats, but only layoff 100 people?
100 people would be more like eight boats worth. Stacking 50 boats would be more like 1000 layoffs.
[QUOTE=cmakin;164757]Call a mechanic? That is one thing that I never really understand about the oil patch. . . . when I sailed, I WAS my own mechanic. . . . At Crowley, if 3 power packs or less were to be changed while at the dock the engineer was expected to do it. More than that, Marine Systems would come down. On any other, the only time we called Marine Systems (or Stewart and Stevenson or similar) was when we were repacking the entire engine(s).[/QUOTE]
So how does the industry get to, or back to, the point where engineers are actually doing the work that the majority call mechanics for? In interviews everyone can fix everything. Is it providing more tools/workspace onboard to do so? Having the space to store the quantities of spare parts needed could be an issue on an OSV as well.
When I started in the patch, we did all our own work, major overhauls were done by third party mechanics, but packs, heads, refrigeration was done by me, or, whoever was sailing as chief. In todays environment, major work such as cylinder, heads, or just about everything else is done by third party mechanics due to liability,I screw up a torque on a rod bolt and end up throwing the rod, who pays? me? or the company, third party mechanic screws up and they pay, it’s all liability.
Trust, experience, parts and tools. I am lucky enough to have all of that at my company, and we hardly ever have to involve contractors. Of course it helps having a full machine shop and electrical shop on board.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the other downturns were not as damaging as the present one. I started in the Gulf in 1982 and worked there thru the 80’s and early 90’s. There were down turns, today it is different. I took a class at STAR in Fort Lauderdale and it had some people from several of the Big boat companies and all the people explained how they were carrying extra mates and engineers. The boat companies all were touting the new builds they had coming (read workboat magazine). I don’t remember carrying extra people and very few newbuilds coming out, at Gulf fleet, Offshore Logistics an TDW we had…old stuff. Maybe the market got too flooded with people and boats and it was all overblown, like the housing market was. Anyway, It may take years and may not return the way it was from 2010 thru 2014, who knows?
So honestly, what is a Mate (2nd captain) making now, someone on their own standing a watch, fully certified/licensed? Master? Chief? AB? I’ve heard about 30 different rates, there can’t be that much variation.
It’s supply and demand. There are too many Mariners for too few jobs. The oil patch wage bubble has popped and partially deflated. They are getting paid what the current market says they are worth, probably more. It may go quite a bit lower, for longer than many people think, before wages start rising again.
The flood of licenses from the Gulf attempting to enter other markets has not had much effect on the tug and barge industry, at least not yet, because they are not licensed or qualified to do the work. But we are only a couple hundred pencil whipped TOARS away from seeing a glut of instant “tugboat men” appear. Our wages have stagnated. Let’s hope they don’t fall.
I’m seeing tugboat offices being pickier than ever right now about who they’re hiring. Supply and demand means they can hand-pick only the good ones. I agree with you though, I wish the CG would look into some of these pay for a TOAR outfits. I’m seeing them but They’re not getting hired into the wheelhouse. Usually the same people who shit on tugs when they were making the long dollar mashing buttons are happy to be my deckhand now.
I’m asking what pay has dropped to, to see where myself and others stand now in comparison in other sectors.
