Ferry Workers Seek Fairness in Contract Negotiations With Skagit County

Submitted by Richard Walker, union steward, on behalf of Guemes Island Ferry Workers, a bargaining unit of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific. 

Representatives of Guemes Island Ferry Workers and Skagit County met with a state-appointed mediator on June 14 in an attempt to resolve the impasse over a new contract for the ferry’s masters and purser-deckhands. The ferry workers’ most recent contract expired Dec. 31, 2021.

The County, through its lead negotiator, Robert Braun of Braun Consulting Group in Woodinville, is offering ferry workers a retroactive wage adjustment for 2022, followed by 2% wage increases for 2023 and 2024, although other departments, including unrepresented workers, received a first-year wage adjustment and subsequent 3% increases. Ferry workers’ wages do not come from fares, but from other County revenues.

Wages Falling Further Behind

The current wage range for a purser-deckhand is $21.38 to $27.20 per hour. The starting wage has increased only $2.95 in 14 years. By comparison, the hourly wage range for purser-deckhands on the Lummi Island Ferry is $22.54 to $34.64.

Wages for Guemes Island Ferry Workers have not kept pace with the cost of living.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain deckhands, and those we do recruit live farther away where housing is more affordable,” said Capt. Guy Mitchell, a member of the Guemes Island Ferry Workers contract negotiation team. “One consequence of that is it takes longer for us to respond to after-hours calls, something that sincerely concerns us as maritime professionals.”

The ferry transports emergency vehicles to and from Guemes Island after hours. 911 Dispatch calls Capt. Rachel Rowe, the ferry division manager, who calls the crew starting with most senior, until she has a captain and two deckhands to crew the vessel. Because it can’t be known how long an after-hours emergency response will take, responding crew members are paid for 3 hours at time and a half.

Ferry workers were formerly required to live within 20 minutes of the ferry. Ferry workers sought an increase in pay for callouts to help defray the increasing cost of living, but the County instead eliminated the 20-minute rule.

Early in the negotiations for the 2022-24 contract, the County’s lead negotiator made an unsolicited offer to increase the callout rate to 4 hours at time and a half, but then withdrew it without explanation.

Local Housing Not Affordable

Some crew members live in Coupeville, Oak Harbor, and Mount Vernon. The median rent in Anacortes in 2017-20 was $1,360, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. A worker earning a starting hourly wage at the ferry could, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards, afford monthly rent of $1,111 at the time. Housing costs have increased since 2017-20 while wages have remained stagnant. Wages are frozen at 2021 levels. The cost of living is not.

Not paying a livable wage is costly to the County. In 2021-22, six deckhands left within a year of training, five for better-paying jobs. Wages paid while training for 40 hours as a deckhand and 40 hours as a purser: $1,710 each based on hourly wages at the time, a total of $10,260.

Union Negotiates for Fair Wages

Ferry crew members are represented by the Inlandboatmen’s Union, or IBU, Puget Sound Region. The ferry is owned by Skagit County and operated by the Public Works Department Ferry Division. The County’s contract negotiators are Braun and representatives of the Human Resources Department.

The County’s lead negotiator, Robert Braun — who, according to documents received by the union via a public records request has been paid $500,000 over the last 10 years to negotiate the County’s union contracts — has resorted to various tactics to wear down union workers, union negotiators said. 

Capt. Guy Mitchell, a member of the Guemes Island Ferry Workers negotiation team, said Braun has, in past negotiations, threatened to withhold retroactive pay if workers didn’t approve the County’s offer; failed to show up at scheduled negotiation sessions; and sought mediation instead of negotiation.

Unfair Labor Practices Complaint Hearing Scheduled

Guemes Island Ferry Workers’ most recent three-year contract ended Dec. 31, 2019 and was extended by memorandum of agreement to Dec. 31, 2021. The IBU reached out to the County in October 2021 to initiate negotiations for a contract for Jan. 1, 2022-Dec. 31, 2024.

Ferry workers rejected the County’s contract offer and presented a counteroffer. Braun then proposed mediation, which ferry workers unanimously rejected, preferring negotiation over mediation. Ferry workers conducted a series of informational pickets March 11 and March 13-17. Braun notified the IBU on March 21 that the County considered both sides to be at an impasse. This declaration, and the County’s failure to respond to the workers’ counterproposal, set up the need for state mediation.

Meanwhile, the ferry manager changed the way she schedules shifts. The unilateral change was disruptive to workers who have older parents and children who need care. It is also an illegal act because the change took place without providing the union an opportunity for bargaining. The Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific filed an Unfair Labor Practices complaint with the state Public Employee Relations Commission, which determined the complaint warranted a hearing and assigned a hearing examiner to the case.

Ferry workers conducted a one-day strike on May 1 to call attention to the contract stalemate and the unfair labor practice. While the ferry did not operate that day, ferry workers stood ready to take emergency responders to and from Guemes Island if needed. Because they were on strike, workers would have done so without pay.

At Least 4,224 Round Trips A Year

The Guemes Island Ferry transports vehicles and passengers between Anacortes and Guemes Island. The ferry makes 4,224 round trips a year between Anacortes and Guemes Island — not including extra runs and after-hours trips for medical emergencies and power outages.

The Guemes Island Ferry has a terminal building with passenger waiting area on the Anacortes side, and a small waiting area and porta-potties on the Guemes Island side. The County provides free long- and short-term parking at two parking lots adjacent to the Anacortes terminal and at one parking lot at the Guemes ferry landing.

As of this writing, the ferry has 19 crew members: one full-time, two part-time masters, and two on-call masters; three full-time, four part-time, and six on-call purser-deckhands; and one full-time mechanic.

Crew members help maintain the vessel and the Anacortes terminal building; undergo regular drills in abandoning ship, anchor operation, firefighting, flooding, and overboard rescue; and receive initial and refresher training in first aid, CPR, and hazardous materials handling and shipment.

Mediation resumes at 9 a.m. Friday, June 23 in the ILWU Hall in Anacortes. The first round, on June 14, concluded after 11 hours of mediated talks between negotiators for the ferry workers and the County. Ferry workers are represented by Peter Hart, Regional Director of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, Capt. Guy Mitchell, and Purser-Deckhand Emily Grober. The County is represented by Robert Braun, labor consultant; Bonnie Beddall, Human Resources Director; Lucas Gonzalez and Jason Lewis of the Human Resources Department; and Fred Haist, Deputy County Prosecutor. 

In the words of Capt. Guy Mitchell, “Guemes Island Ferry Workers provide an essential service. They deserve to be treated fairly and paid a livable wage.”