As I sat next to a travel nurse on a flight home, she told me about her many opportunities to pick temp jobs anywhere she wants for 13 week hitches at $5,000 a week. A wage that has at least doubled, if not tripled during the past two years.
There is a shortage of licensed nurses just like there is a shortage of licensed mariners.
I was struck by the similarity of 13 weeks licensed nursing gigs far from home to the13 week (or more) tugboat hitches that some of us licensed mariners do. Of course the nurses live in nice, hospital provided apartments, and go do whatever they want when they are off shift. They are not imprisoned 24/7 on old tugboats.
But after a very long period of wage stagnation (and at times cuts), mariner wages have only increased about 20% in the last two years. Of course at the same time the cost of a new (or used) pickup, or building materials, or appliances, or food, has gone up a lot more than 20%.
We licensed mariners have not received any increase in buying power.
Hospitals are getting a lot of federal aid, but so are many maritime employers. Paycheck protection loans that don’t need to be paid back, and so on. Loans that have a real interest rate that is negative. Fat federal contracts. Yet, many marine employers are scamming their way out of paying the required “prevailing wages” to employees working on federal project contracts.
The shipping companies have in many cases gotten over 1000% increases in freight rates. They are making a lot of money.
The offshore oil patch is making a comeback and they are struggling to crew their boats at higher wages
We mariners, especially us licensed tugboat mariners, need to demand and receive much bigger wage increases this year.