[QUOTE=Fraqrat;149792]So when the boats are tied up or sent overseas and recrewed foreign the union contract still pays out? So you’re saying if the contract with the company had three years left and these things happened I could collect my check for three years? No wonder companies down here don’t want a union if I owned a company I’d be scared also. Image having to pay half your employees for a no show job for a year or more.
What happens when the severance is paid out? Now you have no job and no regular check. What happens when there 10 guys for every job all looking for work at the same time? Why not $100 cut and you still keep your job and benefits. You’ll get your $ back and more once things pick up again.[/QUOTE]
Yes, often times they do. I got a $6000 gross paycheck from Horizon Lines for a 120 day dispatch that lasted only 21 days b/c the old steamer was laid up in Orange, TX. I knew it was going to be a lay-up, and clearly so did the company. Common practice for that severance equivalent with those contracts.
I said for a “period of time afterwards.” It is a reasonable period. Don’t jump to ridiculous conclusions in an effort to make unions/unionization look greedy or me stupid. I can confidently say I know a fair bit about both operations now. Shipping companies have pretty dedicated bean counters and contract negotiators who determine as many possible scenarios as they can. You don’t see American shipping companies building vessel after vessel on speculation or jacking up wages just because hire rates are sky rocketing. That goes for union and non-union alike.
Are you seriously trying to make severance pkgs look bad? Do you think the guys at Seacor got anything with their walking papers? If HOS gave you the axe tomorrow or GM did the same to me b/c of numerous boats off hire with no promising prospects what are either of us promised? Who would you rather be, the guy with a severance pkg looking for a job, or the guy with no severance pkg looking for a job?
What happens when there 10 guys for every job all looking for work at the same time? Why not $100 cut and you still keep your job and benefits. You’ll get your $ back and more once things pick up again.
The same thing that happened to MOST of this country in late 2008 through all of 2009 and into 2010… mass unemployment coupled with SLASHED salaries. Sure, the CEOs got their money back, but certainly not the workers. Given the ever increasing number of MMCs in the gulf now, very good chance would be no different if it happened to us.
If a paycut is a rational fix, then fine. That’s not what we are talking about and I don’t think that is what most mariners are concerned with down here.
You asked if people lose their jobs what would the union have done for them. Considering the answer for the non-union companies is mostly like “jack shit,” a union’s assistance / negotiating on your behalf via contract is a mountain by comparison.
No wonder companies down here don’t want a union if I owned a company I’d be scared also. Image having to pay half your employees for a no show job for a year or more.
As far as companies not wanting unions down here because of such an expensive scenario, Drillers and OSV operators waste more money (especially these days) than shipping companies could ever imagine. Wasted money on unnecessary mariners (especially licenses), wasted money on unnecessary classes, wasted money on keeping boats/MODUs fully crewed in shipyards when unnecessary, wasted money on food, and on and on. Nothing like paying mates and engineers their day rate doing grunt work in the yard that they could hire 2 ABs or 2 OSs to do for less than half the money per employee. Union contracts provide for reduced manning in those situations in order to save the company money.
Unions will never be a factor down here because no one is willing to take on anything that could propose a threat to production. A box boat at anchor off Long Beach for a day or 2 because of ILWU striking may represent a similar % loss on day rate compared to OSV, but an OSV sitting idle at the dock not getting essential shit to the rig is huge considering the rig may be rented for up to $600k / day. MODU operators and their clients worry about roughnecks and roustabouts unionizing more than any other crew aboard.