Argh! BC Ferries Crews on strike, Mrs. Amok stranded.

[CanuckAmok]

Poor Mrs. Amok!

They walked out yesterday, promising there would be *some* ferry service betwen Vancouver and Vancouver Island. So, Mrs. Amok checked with the Ferries, and they guaranteed a 3pm sailing today, a promise backed up by the Union. She had a 40 minute bus ride to the terminal, they waited until 4:15PM to board the 3pm ferry, and then they cancelled the sailing!

It's pretty fucking hard for me, a life-long Unionist, to get pissed at the strikers, but breaking your promise to the public is crossing a line with me, no pun intended.

They're planning on continuing this disruptive action through Christmas and New Years--and they're going to gain public support, HOW?!

[Maple]

1. NOW you know

why unions are disliked...and waaaaaay past their time.

[HEyHEY]

3. Well,

I don't blindly support unions..like some and I dislike some....but the BC ferry workers union I FUCKING HATE

[CanuckAmok]

5. I agree...

...particularly as they somehow managed to get it worked into their contract last time 'round that they don't have to wear nametags or identify themselves to the public (passengers), so they can be total dickwads and aren't accountable to anyone!

[HEyHEY]

2. I was gonna post something about this today

Tell MRs. AMok to go into downtown Vancouver and hop on a baxter air flight.

[CanuckAmok]

4. Too late for Baxter....

by the time she called them, they were booked solid and scrambling to rent more planes. Ditto with Harbour Air and HeliJet.

They stop flying at dusk, anyway.

So Mrs. Amok is staying Downtown for the night...

[joeybee12]

6. Is Mrs. Amok wife or mother???????????

[CanuckAmok]

8. Usually both, but mostly Wife.

[joeybee12]

9. As in your wife, correct?

Just want to be 100% sure.

[CanuckAmok]

10. Yup. My Lovely, Stranded Wifey.

n/t

[Kamika]

7. I totally support strikes that gets noticed

Nothing as sad as a "controlled" strike that hardly gets noticed.

[HEyHEY]

13. it's not about that

It's about a public union that makes excellent money compared to the private sector intimidating the public with this kind of bullshit.

[CanuckAmok]

20. I am, in principle, but...

BC Ferries is an essential service. More than 60,000 people use the ferry service everyday--the local economy suffers tremendously when the ferries are disrupted by weather, labour action or whatever.

That said, I, and many other people, are more than willing to honour their picket lines (in fact, my Union insists on our members NEVER disrespecting another union's job action). The BC Ferries Workers' Union agreed, and promised its rank and file, that a 'skeleton schedule' would be created and enforced, so goods and people would be able to conduct themselves accordingly. That way, the essential service of crossing the Straight of Georgia would be maintained, the public would be mildly inconvenienced while being made aware of the crews' demands (and, hopefully, pressure our stupid Provincial government to take some action), and the struggling Island economy would not be damaged too severely.

However, abrubtly cancelling Union-supported crossings is only going to make things worse. The public won't support that kind of disruption, public opinion will turn away from the workers (which will probably end up with more public support for anti-union legislation in the future, which our government loves). And, it creats trafic chaos, dnagerous conditions, and environmental impact on the terminal areas, and, last but not least, costs the public money in wasted gas, time, bus-fares, overnight accommodation, etc.

And, as HEyHEY pointed out, these people aren't suffering. Many are ex-Navy, and are making considerably more money than they've ever made in their lives. They are some of the highest-paid employees on the payroll, and many of them have very little to do during their duty-time, as the minimum number of crew per vessel as mandated by Transport Canada and the Coast Guard, far exceds the duties which must be performed by the crew---most of them are there in case of an emergency evacuation of the vessel. They are required to be there, by law, and they can't be downsized.

There are no night shifts, dangerous conditions, hazardous materials, or unfair labour practices in the Line. Their health plan is enviable, even by those of us with excellent union health coverage.

The non-essential crew, i.e. the people who run ght gift-shop, snack bar, etc, ae routinely rude to passengers, and, as I noted on a previous post, they managed to get their Union to insist they don't have to identify themselvs to the public, so you can't complain about their performance by name. And yet, we pay their saleries. Not just the passengers, but all the taxpayers of this province.

This is day 2 of their job action, and already the skeleton schedule is being disrupted. That's not very respectful to the public, while we are expected to be respectful of their right to strike (which they'll lose soon, I'm sure).

Who knows, maybe management cancelled the sailing, as a strategic manoeuvre to upset the public.

Do I care who cancelled it? No. Does Mrs. Amok? No. All we know is that, in the second day of the strike, we're already being screwed and manipulated.

[sleipnir]

11. Screw the modern unions...

I'm very anti-modern union. Not that I'm against the idea of a union, I'm just against a lot of the modern incarnations...

There are a lot of whiney, sad, greedy people who have taken over the leadership of unions and have bastardized the concept. A good deal of these are in the US.

I'm not sure with the modern protections of the courts/government and basic freedom of information, if we even need unions anymore.

The excessive wages some of these unions get paid drive up the costs for everyone else. No wonder most flights today are so expensive, we're paying a ton into exagerated pilot/steward/mechanics/etc unions. And the modern American auto industry, don't get me started.

I'm not disrupting, I just probably have a differing point of view on modern unions. But, I bet that a decent amount of people on DU also share my views on modern unions.

[Tripper11]

12. As a former Island resident I have 3 words...

build the bridge!!!!!

Enough is enough, although the ferry's are a great journey, and it actually slows your life pace down, they have the Islanders and Mainlanders by the figurative balls.
I know there have been several bridge proposals that have been in the offing, but due to various political and other unfluences they don't get any chance.
I appreciate the Islanders not wanting the bridge because it would increase the amount of people and flow to beautiful Vancouver Island, but the positive part would be more $$$ for the local businesses of the Island.

[HEyHEY]

14. Yeah after all BS we've put up with because of the ferries

I wouldn't give a shit if they all had to find a new job.

[Tripper11]

15. UH huh..and how about them Fast Ferries???

What a complete clusterfuck that was!!!!

[HEyHEY]

16. did you hear how it ended?

[Tripper11]

17. The fast ferry fiasco???

Aren't they being sold for a quarter of the price it cost to build them???

[HEyHEY]

18. yup

just chcking weren't sure how long you've been away

[Tripper11]

19. Been away 5 years...

but live in Seattle, and although I don't get home as much as I would like, I do try to keep up on the news. We get CBC here, and I usually listen to Brother Jake on Rock 101 in the net.

[CanuckAmok]

21. Re: Fast Ferries...

This is just an aside, but a friend of mine represents a UK marine salvage company in Canada. In late 2001, they offered the BC Gov't 1.5 million more than the eventual sale price of the Ferries, to part them out. The engines alone were worth something like 7 million.

The Gov't said no, because (my friend theorizes) they didn't want to admit the half-billion dollar ferries were going to be scrapped. So they spent an additonal half-million marketing and maintaining them them for two more years, and eventually found a buyer who was offering 1.5M les than my friend's company.

So, they sold the FastCats for $2M less than they would have received selling them for scrap.

[Tripper11]

22. Cheers mate...

thanks for that. Boy that was a disaster from the word go, that adventure was!

I rode one of them a couple of times, didn't impress me at all!

[Capn Sunshine]

23. is the Clipper Unionized?

They go from Vancouver don't they? or you could always book a float plane ? Commercial Ferry ?

Sea planes?
http://www.nwseaplanes.com/insidepassage.html

[CanuckAmok]

27. Options:

The Clipper runs from Seattle to Victoria, so that's not an option. Well, it sort of is...cross the Border and drive three hours south to Seattle, then take a two hour Clipper trip to Victoria, then drive the remaining 90 minutes north to our place.

Commercial ferries are all BC Ferries Line, therefore unionized.

Floatplanes are an option, but they are all completely booked solid until next Sunday afternoon, due to the strike. Componding this is that the two private airlines which operate floatplanes to the Island are currently chartering every available plane they can find, to service their customers. So, that means you can't charter one privately unless you can find one, and it won't be cheap!

The HarbourLynx passenger ferry runs from Vancouver to Nanaimo--that's the one she'll take, but as she has to be back in Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon, she's not going to risk a crossing. The HarbourLynx doesn't have a reservation system, so you can never be sure if you'll get on or not.

I guess she'll stay until the end of her work week next week, the 15th.

:(

[ComerPerro]

24. So she couldn't get on the boooaat, eh?

Sorry, someone had to say it.

[HEyHEY]

25. say what?

This ain't the Ottawa valley

[CanuckAmok]

28. "Never get out of the boat...

...absolutely goddamned right, unless you were going all the way."

[TopesJunkie]

26. That's no fun --

It is a strange world. In some ways, I think we need unions more than ever, but some unions have got to change their ways. Powell's Books in Portland unionized a few years ago. Now they're asking for a contract that is simply impossible for management to agree to without putting the company in a ridiculous competitive hole. Powell's has always paid its employees very well for the sector. If they want to make a true, long-term difference they're going to have to unionize other big bookstores first. Now they're going to strike during the holiday rush, using sick and vacation time so no worker loses a thing but the company hurts more. I'm a life-long union guy. My family has been union for generations. Yet, some realism has to curb union activities so they don't become destructive. What's the point of the union if Powell's goes out of business? At that point, it's done nothing but destroy one of Portland's premier institutions.

Sorry to go on and on, but...

[HuckleB]

31. You've got that right. The Powell's union has pushed things way too far.

[HEyHEY]

29. well in that case

You heading to the GLobe tonight?

[CanuckAmok]

30. Hmmm...

*CanuckAmok checks pants pocket for spare $500...nothing yet...still nothing...oh, wait! Nope, that's lint...still looking.......nope, no spare $500.

So, no, no Globe tonight (it's no fun without Mrs. Amok--if she's there, I don't need the $500!).