I’ve never understood why the pay always gets lower , still doing the same work
[QUOTE=Tugslasthitch;179090]I’ve never understood why the pay always gets lower , still doing the same work[/QUOTE]
It shouldn’t be a mystery, as long as there are people who will work for less money than the next guy. Ain’t unregulated free markets fucking great?
Next, you’ll get to watch the tug motor on by while you fish for dinner from the dock. Hopefully you’ll find a couple of edible potatoes near a dumpster to eat along with whatever you catch.
The cost of living is much higher the further north you go. Those guys making $400-500 a day and living in NY are still solidly middle class.
does that mean the people are fast food joints are making 20 and hour, mates where I work make from 325-450 and Capts 450-600 and this is Norfolk we should move the company to newyork and get a raise
It sucks but it’s a reality that NE boatman make higher wages and further south makes less. Not just any Tom, Dick or Harry can roll up into New York, Philly and Boston and expect to know what’s happening as soon as you get to the S/B. Every port has their own nuances. Up north it’s traffic management and the tide. If you think you’re going to do a fair tide landing at IMTT Bayonne…you’ll have another thing coming. It takes experience in all ports. I’m not trying to justify it…but I’m just sayin’. The boatman and tanker man up north earn their paychecks. You could land and sail over 20 times in 2 weeks up north. Down south guys are sitting on the hook for weeks at a time.
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Personally watched the influx of southern tankerman @ Reinauer during 05-06-07. About 20% of them where truly competent for the job, I’ve got some good horror stories.
I took a healthy paycut when I left reinauer and went engineer elsewhere, but best choice I’ve made. Still shocked to see guys and hear they are making 150-200 a day decking on southern boats working in NYC, but God forbid we discuss the big bad union. Dann Ocean guys where the best, always crying about doing the same job for 1/2 the money and working 4-1 and you give them the number to call and never hear another word.
[QUOTE=RubberRhib888;179151]It sucks but it’s a reality that NE boatman make higher wages and further south makes less. Not just any Tom, Dick or Harry can roll up into New York, Philly and Boston and expect to know what’s happening as soon as you get to the S/B. Every port has their own nuances. Up north it’s traffic management and the tide. If you think you’re going to do a fair tide landing at IMTT Bayonne…you’ll have another thing coming. It takes experience in all ports. I’m not trying to justify it…but I’m just sayin’. The boatman and tanker man up north earn their paychecks. You could land and sail over 20 times in 2 weeks up north. Down south guys are sitting on the hook for weeks at a time.[/QUOTE]
No matter what they pay, Southern owners have an attitude that they are modern day plantation owners, and that mariners are just cotton pickin’ field hands that don’t need nothing more than a warm place to squat. Southern Mariners have been treated this way for so long that they believe that they are thhe bossman’ surfs.
Recently, the oil patch paid for a little while. Mostly because there was a shortage of STCW Mariners.
When the bossman only operates 99 gross ton tugs, he only needs four men, two with nothing at all, One with Master of Towing NC, and one with Mate of Towing NC. None of them need oceans, STCW, GMDSS, Huet, Hazwoper, SafeGulf or anything else. Since the bossman’s boys don’t have to spend three months and $30,000 taking courses, they are not in short supply, nor do they need to be paid much.
[QUOTE=BargeMonkey;179163]Personally watched the influx of southern tankerman @ Reinauer during 05-06-07. About 20% of them where truly competent for the job, I’ve got some good horror stories.
I took a healthy paycut when I left reinauer and went engineer elsewhere, but best choice I’ve made. Still shocked to see guys and hear they are making 150-200 a day decking on southern boats working in NYC, but God forbid we discuss the big bad union. Dann Ocean guys where the best, always crying about doing the same job for 1/2 the money and working 4-1 and you give them the number to call and never hear another word.[/QUOTE]
If you don’t mind sharing, why did you leave Reinauer? It’s one of those places you don’t seem to meet too many people who used to work there.
Based on my experience moving oil barges in different ports the assist boat handling quality usually goes down hill fast at the lower paying ports compared to new york.
people do leave, for various reasons. Some people get sick of the New York oil rat race. They rarely go to a competitor.
The grass isnt always greener. Especially trying to move up from deck. Better off leaving to get your feet wet then try going back. But after leaving for a while you might not want to go back. ATBs can get boring…
ATBs definitely have their moments. There’s been more than a few times I was glad to have pins rather than wires. They can be a bus driver job though I completely understand where you’re coming from. After 4 years of NY to Port Arthur I’m glad to be back in the Northeast.
[QUOTE=Tugboater203;179245]If you don’t mind sharing, why did you leave Reinauer? It’s one of those places you don’t seem to meet too many people who used to work there.[/QUOTE]
Basically boiled down to crewchange in the GOM. 4yrs of fucked up horror you can’t imagine. I’m actually making about the same money without the travel headaches.
I know lots of guys who have left and moved up in the process. Drinking a specific brand of company kool-aid for to long with no positive results other than a paycheck makes you miserable if you bust your ass and want better. I’m not the type to talk trash but don’t let the shiny paint fool you.
NY to Port Arthur? Dang, how long underway when loaded? Good point about the bus driver scenario. I’m just glad to have a job up in the wheelhouse. I decked in The NE and am running a boat down south. The wx is a plus in the GOM for sure.
[QUOTE=RubberRhib888;179308]NY to Port Arthur? Dang, how long underway when loaded? Good point about the bus driver scenario. I’m just glad to have a job up in the wheelhouse. I decked in The NE and am running a boat down south. The wx is a plus in the GOM for sure.[/QUOTE]
It was about 8 to 8 1/2 days down.
Sometimes you have to exit stage left from a good company in order to move up. You may end up working for a company that you thought you would never work for. But…said company may be the land of opportunity that you didn’t know existed until you got there. I made moves in my career In order to advance further. Some of the moves I wasn’t pumped about. However, I got over it and moved forward. Like Bargemonkey said, fucked up crew changes and things of that nature make you question your current position and pull the trigger. That trigger pull may put you in a lower tax bracket but who fuckin cares when you get the position that you earned at your other company…that they didn’t consider you for.
N[QUOTE=RubberRhib888;179363]Sometimes you have to exit stage left from a good company in order to move up. You may end up working for a company that you thought you would never work for. But…said company may be the land of opportunity that you didn’t know existed until you got there. I made moves in my career In order to advance further. Some of the moves I wasn’t pumped about. However, I got over it and moved forward. Like Bargemonkey said, fucked up crew changes and things of that nature make you question your current position and pull the trigger. That trigger pull may put you in a lower tax bracket but who fuckin cares when you get the position that you earned at your other company…that they didn’t consider you for.[/QUOTE]
People usually don’t quit over wages. Usually they quit for lack of respect. This lack of respect often manifests itself over little things that happen one too many times, like bad travel arrangements. Especially, if management has a bad attitude (“your lucky we even pay your travel”).
There is a lot of bad management at many companies. They will lose a good captain of chief that they are paying $20,000 a month over something like saving $100 bucks on a cheaper, much longer, multi stop flight that shows no respect for a good employee anxious to get home after a long hitch, and then pulling a bad attitude when they get a complaint.
And conversely, I moved to a different company to get a pay raise. It turned out that the new company I went to wasn’t near as good as the company that I left in any category other than base pay. I went groveling back with my tail in between my legs and got my old job back. So sometimes the grass isn’t always greener until you hop over that fence and check it out for yourself. Now I appreciate the company and what they offer a little more.
I was hired there a few months before Hornbeck threw down the gloves and started stealing tankerman in quantity. I shit you not, captains where being sent to local high schools and pizza parlors to attract deckhands, every tug had 3-4 deckhands riding till they weeded them out. The layoffs where ruthless, alot of guys had flown in, bought all their food for 2wks and where layed off the next day.
I’m on yr 14, seen the good and the bad times, worked for 5 diff companies all while feeding a family, quitting a job wasn’t something I just did because I thought the paint looked better next door. I admire the advice alot of the senior GOM guys spoke, “save your money,because it will end” and they where right, I almost went down and wouldn’t have survived the slowdown.
I’ve got the world by the balls now, good company, good boat, and a good relief who is still young and a whore for the money. 14-28 for the rest of my boat career. 
Every company treats you like crap but Reinauer seems to do it the least. The GoM crew changes are aweful and need to be addressed. I like their hire from within policy and it took some time but it worked for me and I’m better for it.