Crew call-outs cause major disruptions to Washington ferry service, 72% not in operation<\/a><\/p>\nBy Monday afternoon, some service had returned, but WSF’s travel bulletin still listed Seattle-Bainbridge, Edmonds-Kingston and Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth as out of service because of crew shortages. Mukilteo-Clinton and Seattle-Bremerton were operating with one boat, and WSF warned of an estimated two-hour wait for drivers departing Mukilteo.<\/p>\n
In the San Juan Islands, WSF said the Chelan and Yakima were expected to resume limited evening service. The Samish’s remaining sailings after the 5:35 p.m. departure from Anacortes were canceled. WSF said dispatch was continuing to try to fill open positions and that it would provide updates as conditions changed.<\/p>\n
MEBA Secretary-Treasurer Roland \u201cRex\u201d Rexha, who met with Gov. Bob Ferguson on Monday, told KOMO News the union did not organize a job action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe union didn’t take any action today,\u201d Rexha said. \u201cThis is not a coordinated effort by any means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rexha said the ferry system has become too dependent on overtime to cover a shortage of marine engineers, a problem he said began before Ferguson took office. He said one member had worked more than 1,800 overtime hours in the past year, while union members collectively logged more than 100,000 overtime hours to cover crewing shortfalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne person taking off sick shouldn’t shut down the service that people rely on, and neither should 23,\u201d Rexha said.<\/p>\n
Ferguson said he met with local and national MEBA leadership Monday morning and heard concerns about staffing. The governor said he remained committed to improving staffing levels but criticized the effect of the cancellations on riders.<\/p>\n
\u201cCausing significant harm and inconvenience to the people of Washington state is not the way to address those issues,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cI was very direct in our meeting: My expectation is that every vessel on every route is fully operational no later than the first vessel sailing tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rexha said he agreed with the goal but stopped short of guaranteeing the system would be fully restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the vessels to run,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want them to run on time. We want them to run safely. I think we all have the same goals here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether he expected every route to be operating Tuesday morning, Rexha said: \u201cI hope so, and I plan on it. We plan on everything running the way they’re supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dispute also exposed a sharp divide over pay and working conditions. In its social media posts Monday, WSF highlighted the compensation of staff chief engineers, saying they have a $157,000 base salary and can earn more than $350,000 annually with overtime, along with sick leave, vacation and retirement benefits.<\/p>\n
Rexha called the messaging \u201cpassive aggressive\u201d and said it left out the qualifications required of the engineers. He said chief engineers can spend 15 years working toward the position and hold U.S. Coast Guard licenses. He also argued that ferry management has not properly completed a prevailing wage survey required by state law and that comparable mariners earn more elsewhere in the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be partners on this. We want to find a solution,\u201d Rexha said. \u201cIn the end, our goal is to make sure the ferries run on time and safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
WSF said the ferries cannot operate without the required engine room positions being filled. Riders can check the agency’s online travel alerts and real-time map before heading to a terminal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 On a foggy day in the Puget Sound region, you’ll often hear the regionally distinctive sound…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-872605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}