As many have said, MSC could fix this with true even time rotations. There is a shortage of mariners, but also the money shore side has caught up. I essentially made lateral move pay wise from sailing 1AE with a large tanker company to operating a small power plant. I work 7 days on 7 days off, 12 hr shifts, and best part is coming home to sleep in my own bed. It’s not perfect, but I also am not gone for months at a time.
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But how would all those kids go shoreside right away and get put into positions for which they aren’t qualified if they were required to go active?
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Congrats on the move. Sounds like you enjoy it. I’m just really surprised that a small plant would pay an operator equivalent to what a 1AE gets on a union ship
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It’s not that surprising really. Stationary engineers pay historically has been very good. I think now it’s around $85000 a year. I have had engineers leave shipping and go to work with gas companies and pipeline companies with a starting rate of $120000/year plus overtime. 40 hour week are standard. Not too bad.
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Thank you. One of the reasons for the pay is that I live in California, so cost of living plays a factor. After 13 years of sailing I was getting burnt out.
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Yeah, that might be the best way to close KP. The place would empty in a week.
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Our fleet is multi-union between officers and unlicensed and I get the same answer from the halls every time I call looking for personnel…apparently everyone is waiting on that sweet deep-sea MSC gig to open up. Methinks I’m getting my leg pulled.
The realization is that shore side pay has outgrown onboard/sailing/offshore pay, just a fact. I was a Master/OIM and now make significant more onshore than I did offshore, but I did go back and get an MBA which helped move up the executive ladder quicker. We pay most of our employees in the 6 figure to start, so I can say this 100%, onshore and all of your options far outweigh the benefits of time off sailing, and it will continue to get better with remote/hybrid working, better benefits than what you would get Union or with Private companies sailing. Reach out through PM if you want to speak more.
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Yeah, Human Resources is run by a bunch of non-sailors or something. I’m an AB, and they wanted me to sail 365 days as an OS. Half the problem is all the niggling STCW baloney that they want you to constantly re-train on to fund “that” industry.
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And that is a whole other can of worms.
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Nah there’s always going to be politically-connected parents with kids who are too f’ed up to get into West Point.
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MSC manning would be helped if their detailers did not encourage everyone to resign.
If you are just a few days late with paper work while on leave they list you as AWOL and send the following. This is the last part of an AWOL warning I received recently.
… If you wish to resign from Military Sealift Command (MSC), you may respond to this email by calling me and indicating your desire to resign (effective on the date of the call) or, for written notification, you may also respond to this email, indicating your desire to resign (effective date of resignation will be the date the email was sent). You may also complete the attached resignation form letter, sign it and return it via the MSC mailing address below. You must send your CAC, Geneva Convention identification cards and official passport to the below MSC mailing address as well:
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND
MARINE PLACEMENT DIVISION(N123)
471 EAST C STREET, BLDG SP-64
NORFOLK, VA 23511-2419
OFFICIAL BUSINESS
Regretfully, if you do not contact the MSC Placement Division within three calendar days of receipt of this E-mail, you could be subject to disciplinary action up to and including removal from Federal Service.
MSC CVIMAR Support Center (CSC) personnel are available from 0800-2000 (eastern time), Monday thru Friday, to answer any questions or address any concerns that you might have. Please contact them at civmar@sealiftcommand.com, 800-793-5784, 757-341-4610 or 757-341-4611. Questions not responded to within 48 hours are automatically raised to the next level.
To make hotel reservations at Norfolk or San Diego: msc_civmar_hotel@us.navy.mil
R/,
Anna Dean
Marine Placement Specialist
Ordinary Seaman / Ops Chief
757-443-XXXX Office
757-443-XXXX Fax
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Companies are required to post salary ranges in the state of California so I see them now. I thought some of these shore side jobs pay well but I would much rather keep my MEBA CE pay.
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You nailed it.
I think that’s 75% a scare tactic, but weird nonetheless. What I really don’t get is how anal they are about the resignation process. You aren’t even allowed to give notice. Once you tell them you intend to resign, despite you saying something like: “I’ll stay until the ship leaves port”, the office tells the ship you’re no longer welcome, get your bags and go.
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I quit MSC in 1985. Nothing has changed. It is a pseudo military organization. Nothing like it elsewhere. There should be a contracted management company for the manpower. When I was hired there were people content with shaming everyone when they wanted a relief or extra time off. Also the bad behavior that officers and crew got away with was ridiculous. I broke up a few fights at the gangway when crew returned from Liberty at night. Also quite a few crew drowned in Augusta Bay Sicily when they were either pushed off the launch or falling over. There were people that thought they could get away with anything because they were 5 point veterans. The disciplinary process was slow and in effective. Some of the fights I saw really should have been prosecuted as they were violent. Instead there were review boards if I am not mistaken. One guy threatened to punch me when I was 3rd Mate. I told him I would sue him and make sure he would go to jail. Thankfully he believed me. I took his booze away only for the Captain to give it back to him. The Captain threatened to fire me for not searching bags. The hostility was too much. The second mate was assaulted on the mess deck by a Supply Officer. The 2 mate quit later on and the Supo was arrested for stealing a few years later. I don’t see that much has changed after reading numerous blogs.
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The organization does not want exit surveys. It wood expose the inefficiency
This was done back in 1985 when I resigned. I discovered that you could successfully ignore the correspondence as they cannot force a resignation.
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I was with MSC for years. They absolutely do have surveys. Then the Admiral in charge will talk about “reinventing MSC”. Then it’s more of the same and nothing changes. I have been a conmar for years now and I see similar problems on this side of the house. Nothing nearly as bad though. WE used to joke that MSC’s motto was F@ck up, Move up!
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That suppo did major time in the federal pen too!
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