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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jack
Goula Orcas
Ferry Workers Okay First Union Contract Orcas
Island – The workers who load and unload the Washington State Ferry
and sell ferry tickets on
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 “I
think this is a landmark event for all ferry workers in the
“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
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.” |
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