The south wants nothing to do with Unions because companies have most employees brainwashed. Saying union is like yelling fire at some companies. They will fire you the first sign of pro union they have. Some states do even need a reason ( a will states ) to fire you. I have never joined a union because they have little or no power in my state. The only power I have is to quit and hope it has some effect.
The south will rise again.
[QUOTE=Portman;47851]What are you considering as low wages? Are you talking about the wheelhouse or tankerman/deckhand? I believe the wheelhouse is above $400/day for a mate.[/QUOTE]
There are a few companies here on the east coast that are not union. I have been a mariner for 20 years and have worked for kirby,and am worried about the k sea guys. Why would anyone want to work pushing 2 plus barges wheelhouse, or tankerman /engineer/cook/deckhand for those rates anyway? 400 day for mate is only average TANKERMAN pay east coast,while mate/pilot average is app 550,610 day here. Let me see,2 for 1 at 400 day is 96000, while 610 day 2 for 2 is 109000. Dont mind paying travel 250 round trip, still end up more money and more time off, and besides its only a 3 hour flight from New Orleans which beats a 6 or 8 hour crew van ride! Just my opinion though, you know what they say about opinions.
I was wondering did u get the job u where looking for I am also trying to get a deckhand job I was trained by Ohio Valley Marine Service in 2007 I loved it and I now want to get back into it I am willing to relocate any where
[QUOTE=bell47;47506]<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 height=350><TBODY><TR><TD style=âPADDING-TOP: 10pxâ vAlign=top>[LEFT]Due to recent United States Coast Guard regulations affecting crew travel, we are only accepting applications from individuals living in the following states and, in some cases, regions of states:
Ohio (South of Columbus), Indiana (South of Indianapolis) Wisconsin (Southern) Iowa (East of Des Moines) Illinois Missouri Kentucky West Virginia (Northwest) Pennsylvania (Southeast) Tennessee (West of Cookeville) Mississippi Alabama Florida (Panhandle) Louisiana Arkansas
I Copied and pasted this from the Ingram Barge Co. website. I donât know what regs they are talking about, but thats what they say. I filled out the online application anyway. I figured they wonât shoot me and eat me for filling it out. Anyway my name is in the hat, so to speak. Thanks for the info.
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this is just the excuse they use. they can fly you in the day before and put you up in hotel so you are well rested when you catch the boat
wow this one reall took off, eh?
a few key points for meâŚ
how much starvation motivation do you have?
thatâs what it all boils down to.
I was a tow boat trip pilot during the boom naming my own price and working for the highest bidder until the bust. i was making 6-750/day in the boom and had to go back to ab tankerman at 316/day during the bust.
now got a job with a company that pushes for kirby and has kirby level beneâs and day rates.
iâm just glad to have a fuckin job after that last dry spell brother.
that one bankrupted me.
Iâll take 440/day with job security and beneâs to boot over a hit and miss trip job payin 600/day+
yes union is taboo in the gulf always will be. if ksea is union kiss it good bye. there will be a recockoning for all the old timers and the new hungry kids will take it over.
such is the cycle of life with non union companies in the gom region.
no unity in the south / gom. never will be.
if i gotta feed my family i will work for less than you especially if you are a yankee.
they will keep me busy and you sittin at the house when times get rough.
if you put your foot down there is always a green pilot or relief captain waitin to pounce on an oppurtunity to advance at someone elseâs expense.
unless you build lots of freinds in a non union company when you get too expensive to keep around they will cut you loose down here.
very cut throat inland. havnât worked the oil patch in awhile but it was less money and more cut throat than this.
bow to the kirby god and you will make a livin
gotta go
I was reading this thread and of course working 1 for 1 making 90k a year is a hell of a lot better than working 2 for 1 to make 90k a year, butâŚat this moment there are a hell of a lot more companies running 2 for 1 than there are running 1 for 1. ive been looking alot, at this moment i am working 28/14 and trying like hell to get aqway from it. so if it boils down to working equal time and making 40k and struggling or working 2 for 1 making 90k and providing great for family, well i think we all know what one would win.
[QUOTE=OICUR12;50440]
how much starvation motivation do you have?
if i gotta feed my family i will work for less than you especially if you are a yankee.
they will keep me busy and you sittin at the house when times get rough.
gotta go[/QUOTE]
I donât get your point. I have NEVER: Been unemployed, worked for less than Union scale for over 30 years, never been âleft on the beachâ while some scab has been âtaking my jobâ and have never been âpicked outâ because I have made the going rate wherever I have worked. The cyclical wages in the GOM seem to bounce around as the âpatchâ fluctuates. This effects the local rates on towboats too. Not so at a Union company. Sure we may not make the âtop dollarâ you are referring to, but we donât get the screw when the bottom drops out either.
And if I have to âPut my foot downâ as you put it, and the company doesnât support me⌠well I guess I am glad I havenât worked for such places. Too bad for those who have/are!
BTW, Itâs Yankee!
[QUOTE=OICUR12;50440]
bow to the kirby god and you will make a livin [/QUOTE]
BARF! I think you meant to say, â⌠you will [U][B]almost [/B][/U]make a livinâ
Both my Tankerman are Kirby trained, and they saw the light (after only 6 months). Now they make as much as a Mate at Kirby. Sounds like a no brainer to me! How can you explain that? A Union scale tankerman making as much as a navigation Mate at Kirby!
[QUOTE=power230;47977]Cajun, The Gulf is not all what you make it out to be. If your referring to state of the art tugs then think again to the ATBs that are out. Whatâs so state of the art about a 150â tug that supposively has a dp 1 system that doesnât work? As far as supply boat being state of the art, we are way behind the european companies with dp-3 vessels and Ulstien design vessels. As far as 100% payed benefits go, not many offer it and if they do itâs a crappy plan. I work for one of the major companyâs and talked to HOS and Harvey. Thereâs no much difference in pay and not to mention those two took pay cuts and some layoffs. The Gulf boats have too much BS on them. Always some BS going on with the crew to the captain that thinks he is god because he has a 1600 ton master near coastal with a 6000 ton osv endorsement. Pay between the gulf and east coast companies arenât far apart atleast for engineers. I worked on the east coast for McAllister prior to going back to union and left because I could drive to work here in Louisiana and they took my travel pay and a pay cutf.
Iâll work on a tug out of New York any time away from the oil filed BS for $10 less a day. If McAllister was union we would have never loss the travel pay and pay cut. I have less responsibility with just loading fuel and service oil on a tug versus mud and all the other crap for 10 less a day. Not to mention deal with a ECP program because some retard decided to bypass the OWS and illegally pump over oil.
Bottom line there is good and bad with whatever route you take. As far as engineers, you canât beat a tugboat pushing a barge versus the oil field with OSV or AHTS. And I donât work 2 for 1 in the Gulf, I work 1 for 1.[/QUOTE]
You have BS and boat drama no matter where you go. the only time it gets extra nasty is when the industry slows down. When people ask me what it is like working out here i tell them it is like being stuck in a never ending episode of âSurvivorâ. Never know when your ass is gonna get âvoted offâ. âAmbush Crew Changesâ are common place in the gulf and south. Like most industries not as much what you know as who you know.
We had a guy get put off the boat the other day for accidentally dumping the only frickin spatula on the boat over when he was cleaning up the galley. Innocent mistake. God complex captain had to push his weight around and make an example out of him so as to keep everyone walking on eggshells around him all the timeâŚwhich is what he gets off on.
I came up the hawsepipe gettin crapped on the whole way by abusive jerks. The abusive jerks look at it like, âI got crapped on so now i get to crap on everyone else.â Bullshit. Break the cycle, man.
I go out of my way to break that cycle. Hopefully it will have an effect with future generations of wheelmen i have trained.
Itâs hard enough out here without some jerk makin your life a livin hell everyday.
Nothin i like better than watchin a guy stand up for himself and tellin a jerk to go get stuffed. Have your bags packed but at least you leave with your dignity. Lifeâs too short. Find a job where you donât have to put up with that crap.
I find that the huge companies are the worst for tolerating jerks. That is why i work for a mom and pop op. Less bs. One on one with the boss if things aint jivin.
Got off topic I know but that is my take on things down here in the GOM.
[QUOTE=cappy208;50443]I donât get your point. I have NEVER: Been unemployed, worked for less than Union scale for over 30 years, never been âleft on the beachâ while some scab has been âtaking my jobâ and have never been âpicked outâ because I have made the going rate wherever I have worked. The cyclical wages in the GOM seem to bounce around as the âpatchâ fluctuates. This effects the local rates on towboats too. Not so at a Union company. Sure we may not make the âtop dollarâ you are referring to, but we donât get the screw when the bottom drops out either.
And if I have to âPut my foot downâ as you put it, and the company doesnât support me⌠well I guess I am glad I havenât worked for such places. Too bad for those who have/are!
BTW, Itâs Yankee![/QUOTE]
Not sure how you can call someone a scab taking your job when you donât work union. Donât get that one.
As for my spelling or punctuation use your imagionation. Iâll run it by my editor next time for ya.
I strongly disagree about GOM rates and inland towboat rates being related.
As time passes day rates go up. No matter what sector you are in. Inflation and rising cost of living dictates that.
I switch back and forth depending on who is paying the most and who is gonna keep food on my table.
As far as the bottom droppin out it donât matter who you are and who you work for. If they donât need youâŚyour gonna be sittin at the house.
Just last year was it? The year before? All kinds of towboats tied up. 40 year captains sittin at the house. Boats switchin to 1/1 instead of 2/1 to try and keep everyone working. UnionâŚnon UnionâŚwho cares?
Unions are a seniority based system. Although non union can be that way too it is more merit or connection based from what i have observed.
What ever pays the bills man.
Little union anecdote (aw shit did i get that word right?) fur ya.
EJ&E railroad up North started to become insolvent (shucks whereâs that dictonary?). Why? Big salaries, big pensions, and shitty business practices i guess.
CNN buys them out. CNN starts bringing in a younger, newer non union workforce that is willing to work for way less than the old timers.
Now everybody is pissed at everybody. Old timers wonât talk to the new guys or train them to take their jobs.
The railyard is a mad house from what i hear. poor communication leads to unbelievable stories of carelessness and accidents.
CNN will have that union busted in another year max.
Yeah, the union saved their jobs and passed the screwin on to the guys just gettin started in life but for how long?
What can that union do to save those old timers their jobs? Nothin. Especially when you crap on the guys you should be trying to organize. Uh, oâŚI just said Union and organize. Good thing nobody heard me. I would be amush crew changed tmrw if someone did.
Live and let live i guess
[QUOTE=West505;46667]Yeah they pay sucks at ACL and all you can be is a deckhand Then to the wheelhouse. Blessey or Kirby the companys that push the clean and dirty oil you move up from deckhand to Tankerman.[/QUOTE]
That is a lie beyond lies. Iâve been a tankerman ($264/day) with them since 2007 and came from being a deckhand. They have been having several tankerman classes every year since sept 2007. The only down fall to getting into the program is you have to be with the company for 2 years unlike blessy, kirby or florida.
Bouchard has just made all deckhands 2 and 1, mandatory. They will use seniority and terminate employees til they get to the required number.
That sucks. What the reason for that? Are they losing contracts?
I heard its about benefits, but who knows. Its always something with this company. Once Obama won re-election, the owner went nuts I am sure.
The company lives up to its name, but everyone who comes to Douche-ard smells their reputation a mile away.
Was wondering if any of you folks have dealt or worked with Kirby Offshore (West Coast)? Tie up next to the Sirius last week, but didnât get to question the guys on how it is for AB/Tanks over there under Kirby Offshore. Figuring you all may or may not have got a pay raise and better equal time (2/2 instead of 4/4) or what have you.
Dont know how things are for them on the west coast, but im sure if you showed up in NYC with a bag packed they would love to have you. From what we get, info wise from all the ex-kirby-sea guys here, it aint good.
So I am a the greenest of all horns and looking to get my foot in the door of this industry. My plan for the summer included volunteering on a tall ship in Deleware for two and a half weeks (just for fun) and then I was going to fly down to the gulf and knock on doors. This thread has convinced me that it probably wouldnât hurt to go knock on doors in New York Harbor while I am up in Deleware anyways right? I was wondering though, most people recommend staying in the gulf for 1 1/2-2 weeks just to make sure you hit every company. How long do you think it would take in New York? Also does anybody know of any cheap hostels or extended stay hotels in Staten Island?
They like Kirby East Coast more than the left Coast?