Orcas Ferry Workers Okay First Union Contract

Orcas Island – The workers who load and unload the Washington State Ferry and sell ferry tickets on Orcas Island have voted unanimously to ratify their first Union contract.
Under the terms of the contract, workers will receive wage increases ranging from 10% to 62%, as well as signing bonuses of $500-1500. The wage increases will be retroactive to July 15th, with the contract expiring on November 1, 2001. Of the eleven employees currently working, including temporary summer help, one will get a 10% raise plus a $1500 bonus; one a 23% raise plus a $1500 bonus; five will each get a 30% raise plus a $500 bonus; one a 45% raise plus a $1000 bonus; and three will each get a 62% raise plus a $1000 bonus. Pay raises range from $1.38 to $5.31 an hour.

The average pay will rise from about $10.27 an hour to about $13.59 an hour, for a 32% increase, not including the bonuses. In addition, the workers gained establishment of a 401(k) retirement fund. Their employer, Russell’s at Orcas, will match 50% of an employee’s contribution to the fund, up to 6% of the employee’s pay. The Orcas workers voted in April 1999 for representation by the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU), the marine division of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The IBU already represents most employees of the Washington State Ferry, as well as other ferry and tugboat workers. “I think this is a landmark event for all ferry workers in the Islands,” said Jack Goula, IBU Union Steward for the newly-organized workers.“

“We have such a small number of employees in our group, and the ILWU fought like crazy to help us,” Goula added. “We didn’t believe such a large organization would pay so much attention to our needs. I’d like to see other workers throughout the San Juan Islands get organized, too.” Jim Frank, the senior employee at the operation, stressed that the workers organized because of poor working conditions and a lack of consistent policies.“We were at the whim of the employer,” he explained. “There was no fairness on a day-to-day basis, and no job security of any kind.” Noting the unusually large economic gains in the contract, Frank said that, after examining the Washington State Ferry contract with their employer and payroll records, “it was obvious that a considerable amount of money, year after year, was not being passed on to the employees as intended.”

But, he added, “with the right to collective bargaining, we were able to address these problems through negotiations." Nonetheless, “it does call into question the whole way that the Washington State Ferry does business.” The most important gain, Frank emphasized, “is the protection that we won by joining with the ILWU – a collective voice, and the ability to make decisions about our own work lives.”