The most important thing people forget about is the other benefits that come with being a union member. Which is hard for people to wrap their heads around because there is no easy numerical comparison unlike wages. I remember talking to other classmates at OSG and other private deepsea companies when I first graduated- I attempted to crunched the numbers factoring in the cost they had to pay for insurance (which was nowhere close as good as mine) and the cost of upgrading and paying out of pocket for classes.
Factoring all these benefits in the classmates were getting paid significantly less than I was. And I feel like it also slowed down their career progression as they were hesitant to spend the money on classes. Quite a few of those classmates are now out of the industry or sailing well below us other union guys. - just my personal observation
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