I’ve just written to Joe Biden proposing that when (I couldn’t say if) he is reelected that he should appoint Gavin Newsome as Secretary of Transportation.
Newsome raised the minimum wage in California to $20 an hour for the high school dropouts that work at McDonalds.
Surely, Newsome would be in favor a national minimum wage increase for CMA graduates to well above $500 a day.
They need that raise to make up for all the free work they’re expected to do. They don’t get paid for anything they do on the ground, their pay is only from takeoff to landing.
I recommended that to one of the union reps and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. What good is a union if they aren’t willing to go all-in? Now’s the time to strike and get everyone’s wages WAY up, not this 3% BS. At the very least, tie raises to inflation
When there’s a signed contract is definitely not the time to strike. Injunction in 3…2…
There should be only one maritime union. These competing, fractured maritime unions are a big waste of time and have to be amalgamated for any real gains to be made.
And yes, $500 a day Union rate for a 3rd Officer is just……a joke. Deckhands catch lines and mop p-ways for that money now.
They need to get Shawn Fain to negotiate, because the leaders now are horrible. With a shortage of people, why would anyone negotiate a 3 year contract? crazy
Yea that is a joke. Wow
There may be a signed union contract, but that doesn’t force you to sail. Let those bad job calls on the Board that pay peanuts go unfilled.
There are nonunion oil patch and tugboat opportunities that pay better.
People not taking jobs is different than the union(s) calling a strike when there’s a contract in force.
The tankers SLNC Goodwill and SLNC Pax suck from what I have heard they are the lowest paid across any union, you can’t force me on those! Any MMP contract that has both the engineers and deck officers is going to suck and suck bad. I suspect someone is getting a kick back somehow, because who in their right mind would sign off on that contract nowadays? There was an MMP engineer that was killed on one of those SLNC ships too.
Kirby had a signed contract too, but recently gave additional raises to help with retention.
Edit- a Captain I sailed with used to say " The contract is the least they can pay you, they can give you more anytime they want"
Does SLNC have a shady past? The guys who started it have a sort of reputation if I recall correctly.
[quote=“The_Commodore, post:281, topic:68010, full:true”]
Those two comments together seem pretty serious. What are you indicating? That the MMP is taking a kickback from unscrupulous owners? The Goodwill and Star are on government contracts, wouldn’t there be oversight from there?
Those two comments together seem pretty serious. What are you indicating? That the MMP is taking a kickback from unscrupulous owners? The Goodwill and Star are on government contracts, wouldn’t there be oversight from there?
How many jobs were then lost across the great state of California after the Governor instituted this? And don’t forget, there was a clause in there that removed restaurants that “bake their own bread” from this requirement - a clause which helped one of Newsom’s rich donors maintain a lower wage…
Are you suggesting that Newsome might also sell out mariners to big donor vessel owners that, er hum, “maintain” their own vessels.
Say it ain’t so!
Nope. Suggesting that he may not be doing a terrific job in CA so might not want him in a federal capacity.
I share your reservations about Newsome, but I think that he would be better than our current Secretary of Transportation.
I don’t think I’m indicating anything. There’s some MMP members here who would know more than me. I’m just repeating the rumor mill is all
Yeah we agree on that for sure! You can also look at MARAD and see a shortage of mariners at the upper levels, more along the lines of political appointees, I think Buzby has been the only recent one in years that may have accomplished something.
Seem MMP probably doesn’t want the contract if they are negotiating low wages for their memberhip. Do you guys complain to anyone onboard or at the company. That’s the ship does Diego run and spends like 2 weeks a month alongside the pier there? Could be why the lower wage?