I heard Dann Marine is at $750-$775-$805,
wages fixing come up, mates leaving ship
assist companies in Ms River to go to E.C.O.
On their Z-Drives working at LNG terminals.
Not sure what the large Ms River Linehaul
Towboats are at but sure its closer to $1000
Than $600.
July 1 has come and gone. I havent heard any murmurings yet from the Terrace… Anyone have their finger on the pulse?
There’s a proposal in the range of 7% raises for 3 years along with longevity fixes. Second mates 3 years with the company will be making 600/day if approved
For what company?
Sorry, Kirby rtbu side. Full longevity chief mates will be 750/day if this goes through. Second mates would be 650 at full longevity.
I briefly saw what captains are being re tiered at, something like 950 a day
According to the gurus that keep up with such things that is an upper middle class income at $160,000/year. If the health insurance is paid for, a pension provided for that is decent pay.
Lmao no pension or full insurance coverage. Captains are non union.
Sad stuff, People make more running Compact
Track Loaders if they own it, a hole in the wall
Mechanic shop charges at least $100 an hour
and some jobs overlap!
Might be a good time to buy a tug and go into business for yourself. Do the business plan and see if makes economic sense.
With the exception of some well managed
companies, how did we get to what we have
Today like in some of the highest turnover
ever, vessels tied up with no crew to operate
them, shorthanded crews or excuses instead
of relief’s on scheduled crew change, asked
To sail with ongoing No Sail issues, stagnant
Pay scales related to our economy and a
volatile wall street where many Americans
401k’s have taken a beating, but I guess
on a high note if you wanted to work straight
time, have insurance & just reach out and
Touch your family through an IPhone you
could tap into some lost spending power.
Id even go a step further that if the northeastern
seaboard wasn’t littered with non union boats
from other regions & has been for years
that the prevailing wages would be higher
for crews working the northeast & eastern
seaboard
One of the best things about working on the West Coast is that it’s too far away for the bayou boat companies to flood the market with underbidding boats and labor from Louisiana.
ECO and PWS contract from crowley?
Also the biggest culprit of underbidding boats came from the West coast’s own Harley Marine.
I’d certainly agree that Harley is the closest thing to an underpaying bayou boat company on the West Coast.
We’ll, there are a couple other outfits that may not be any better. What’s that company in LA, American something?
Have to wonder if the big 333 strike in the late
eighties hadn’t happened what would the
wages be now in the northeast , seems to
reason they would be much higher, like the
bar has been lowered since than and many
non union outfits contributed to making
that happen, basically diluting payscale
for everyone.
You’re definitely on to something there. The strike crushed and depressed wages in the NE for decades. Then it got hard to find qualified crew (and it continues to be) so wages started going up again. Not really enough to keep the good ones from jumping to make more elsewhere though.
You got to look at the whole picture. This crap started late '70s when the oilfield was booming. The OSVs were over built. Licensed crew were in such short supply that the CG succumbed to the companies and issued tear-sheet licenses. A towing endorsement wasn’t needed then. When the oilfield cycled down early '80s, it got real shitty. Wages were cut and cooks were the first to go Most of the smaller companies went under. The other companies were cutting each others throats. Some of the bigger companies merged. When the 333 mess started, there was a surplus of tugs and “qualified” seamen to compete with. Neither side would give an inch. I was sailing SIU crewed tugs at the time. This crap curtailed our negotiations for the following 20 years. I’m glad to see the shortage of truly qualified seamen is pushing the wages and bennies back up.
Looking at the whole picture would have to include government policy shifts at the time.
In the United States, the “neoliberal transformation” of industrial relations, which considerably diminished the power of unions and increased the power of employers,
From Wikipedia.
I distinctly remember Reagan’s destruction of the ATC union during that time. It was the death of unions for all practical political purposes. Since then inflation adjusted wages have taken a dive but CEO compensation has skyrocketed which is the idea behind neoliberalism. I always thought the term neoliberalism was misleading to many folks who couldn’t be bothered to look up the definition.
I keep waiting to hear about this big strike on the other side of the bridge 
