anyone worked for ‘local 5’. My chief rails against SIU and said ‘Local 5’ was a better outfit. Also any warm body with docs can get a wiper gig. any thoughts? Thanks
I have worked under a Local 5000 contract, the last time was back in 2006. It could be better, depending on what is important to you. On SIU crewed boats their is some kind of vacation rotation. With local 5000 the amount of vacation you get is decided by your seniority. In '06 per the contract we had a guy in his first year got TWO WEEKS of vacation… i got more but they were rather liberal about it as that contract was a hold over from a different time. A time when the new guys were reliefs and bouncing around from one boat to another with a break inbetween. Thats what i would call the down side. On the upside of it their is the fact that their is no union hall. You apply to the company, they hire you, you pay your dues. No BS from a goof at the hall. The local 5000 contracts also have a season end bonus. Basicly you get a percentage of your total wages for the season as a bonus during the winter lay-up. I think it was 10%
Thanks for posting. any warm body with docs can get a wiper gig. Is this true? My only LAST inqury is about the strike against ASC, Does 5 have other work? Hate to pay them only to find out they were picketing all their employers
thanks
ASC and Local 5000 are basicly over, i wouldn’t even call it a strike anymore, but i’m sure Local 5000 would look at it differently. Interlake Steamship, Key Lakes/Great Lakes Fleet and Central Marine Logistics are all crewed by Local 5000 for their unlicensed guys. As far as any warm body with docs getting a wiper job… possible. Remember that the company does the hiring, the union isn’t involved in that. If the company has a wiper position and they have two people who have applied, one with an OS and another with a QMED, who would you hire? That said, its possible for an OS to get work.
The Local 5000 contracts have other little perks sprinkled in them all over the place. Things like the deck crew getting another dollar and hour during the unload (known as boom time), higher rate for cleaning tanks (it was like double time or something like that). I know their were others, but i can’t remember.
[QUOTE=Horatio;71872]anyone worked for ‘local 5’. My chief rails against SIU and said ‘Local 5’ was a better outfit. Also any warm body with docs can get a wiper gig. any thoughts? Thanks[/QUOTE]
A few years ago that was the case on the Lakes, but not right now. Some boats have been laid up, others have been retired/scrapped, some repowered from steam to diesel and ATB’s have also made inroads.
End result is the same, fewer wiper jobs (very hard to get in as one) and few oiler jobs.
Deck is the dept to be in on the Lakes right now, NOT engine or God forbid, stew dept.
If your intent to work in the Engineering department and are unlicensed i’d say the place to be is Key Lakes/Great Lakes Fleet. They still have 4 Steamers, and have shown no signs of doing any repowering that I am aware of.
2 man galley would SUCK