Post by ferryfast admin on Apr 4, 2012 11:19:30 GMT -5
Puget Sound chases San Francisco Bay
by Martin Rushmere
www.maritimeprofessional.com/Blogs/Martin-Rushmere/March-2012/Puget-Sound-chases-San-Francisco-Bay.aspx
Mar 31, 2012, 9:26PM EST
The pilots reckon they should get more
In a case of follow-the-leader, Seattle and Puget Sound pilots are pounding their fists on the AIS transponder on the bridge, demanding that their wages should go up.
As we have predicted in these blogs before, San Francisco pilots were bound to lead to a catch-up movement when their wages rose last year. Their increases pushed up the national average to just over $400,000 a year and now their Puget Sound brethren say they should be making more because they are earning only $340,000 a year.
Twenty percent, just like that, to keep up with the Joneses.
Apart from that weakness in their argument, there is also the vexed question, brought up in maritime debates throughout the country, of what economists call "artificial barriers to entry." In sum, it concerns the pilots' claims of fewer people wanting to train – the unspoken implication being that the high pay is needed to keep the scarce, trained specialists. This is hotly disputed by others in the industry, who say that the numbers are kept unnecessarily low. (Puget Sound has about 55 ).
And there is equal controversy about the training needed, with many aspiring candidates flunking. Part of the selection process consists of drawing a number of charts from memory, complete with buoys, of the sound. It turns out that ferry captains in the sound also have to draw these charts – and their pay is no more than half of the pilots.
Mike Moore of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association [ www.pmsaship.com/ ] noted at the last pay increase hearing that state ferry captains had taken a 3 percent cut in pay.
(As an aside, a small boat skipper in the San Francisco Bay told me that he knows every chart from Point Reyes, through the Golden Gate to the San Francisco-Oakland (Bay) Bridge.)
"It's a big Kabuki in every port," says Seattle Chief Executive Officer Tay Yoshitani, referring to the dispute over pay. Which hardly helps the situation.
Critics of a pay rise note that the pilots actually haul in $467,000 a year when benefits are included, which makes them part of the One Percenters.
If Puget Sound pay does go up, the chain reaction will ignite again, with pilots in other regions demanding more. And so it goes.
by Martin Rushmere
www.maritimeprofessional.com/Blogs/Martin-Rushmere/March-2012/Puget-Sound-chases-San-Francisco-Bay.aspx
Mar 31, 2012, 9:26PM EST
The pilots reckon they should get more
In a case of follow-the-leader, Seattle and Puget Sound pilots are pounding their fists on the AIS transponder on the bridge, demanding that their wages should go up.
As we have predicted in these blogs before, San Francisco pilots were bound to lead to a catch-up movement when their wages rose last year. Their increases pushed up the national average to just over $400,000 a year and now their Puget Sound brethren say they should be making more because they are earning only $340,000 a year.
Twenty percent, just like that, to keep up with the Joneses.
Apart from that weakness in their argument, there is also the vexed question, brought up in maritime debates throughout the country, of what economists call "artificial barriers to entry." In sum, it concerns the pilots' claims of fewer people wanting to train – the unspoken implication being that the high pay is needed to keep the scarce, trained specialists. This is hotly disputed by others in the industry, who say that the numbers are kept unnecessarily low. (Puget Sound has about 55 ).
And there is equal controversy about the training needed, with many aspiring candidates flunking. Part of the selection process consists of drawing a number of charts from memory, complete with buoys, of the sound. It turns out that ferry captains in the sound also have to draw these charts – and their pay is no more than half of the pilots.
Mike Moore of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association [ www.pmsaship.com/ ] noted at the last pay increase hearing that state ferry captains had taken a 3 percent cut in pay.
(As an aside, a small boat skipper in the San Francisco Bay told me that he knows every chart from Point Reyes, through the Golden Gate to the San Francisco-Oakland (Bay) Bridge.)
"It's a big Kabuki in every port," says Seattle Chief Executive Officer Tay Yoshitani, referring to the dispute over pay. Which hardly helps the situation.
Critics of a pay rise note that the pilots actually haul in $467,000 a year when benefits are included, which makes them part of the One Percenters.
If Puget Sound pay does go up, the chain reaction will ignite again, with pilots in other regions demanding more. And so it goes.