Flanked by members of the ILWU Local 10 Drill Team, IBU No. Cal Regional Director Marina Secchitano wraps up the Feb. 13 rally to keep the Alcatraz Ferry union. MMP Branch Agent Capt. Ray Shipway stand by the IBU banner. PHOTO BY: Marcy Rein.
By Marcy Rein
Union members who work the Alcatraz Ferry run on the San Francisco Bay have launched a fight for their jobs in the wake of the National Park Service’s September 2005 decision to switch to a non-union contractor. They are drawing strong political backing as questions multiply about the new contractor’s bid and the impact the switch could have on San Francisco.
The Blue & Gold Fleet has run the ferry to Alcatraz Island since 1994. It carries about 5,000 passengers per day with some 40 union crew members. The IBU represents the deckhands and the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots (MMP) represents the captains, customer service reps, ticket agents and maintenance staff.
"The National Park Service’s awarding of the right to negotiate the Alcatraz Ferry contract to Hornblower—a non-union dinner boat cruise company—is a shocking travesty of justice to our employer," said IBU Northern California Regional Director Marina Secchitano.
MMP tried unsucessfully to organize Hornblower’s San Francisco and Berkeley locations in 1998 and most ferry workers call it a cheap and anti-union employer.
"Hornblower employs mostly part-time people, and we don’t need to be replacing union jobs with maritime McJobs," said Robert Irminger, an IBU deckhand with 25 years on the Bay.
To date Hornblower has provided no assurances it will hire the experienced IBU and MMP crews, though the unions have made repeated inquiries.
"Hornblower keeps saying they aren’t ready to hire the workers, but we see them talking to boat builders and making all kinds of other preparations," Secchitano said. "We think their preparations should include us." Hornblower could take over the Alcatraz work as early as May 1.
The workers say that not only their futures but also the safety of future ferry passengers depends on keeping IBU and MMP crews on the boats going to Alcatraz.
Operating a ferry safely always requires local knowledge, but Alcatraz presents special challenges, said Capt. Tom Harlan, an MMP member.
"Alcatraz sits in the middle of the eddies created by the mixing of the waters coming down from the San Joaquin and up from the South Bay," Harlan said. "The currents run six, seven, eight knots and vary depending on the tides. Every landing is different. This isn’t a lake."
The deckhands, who tie and untie the ferries and load and unload passengers, need expertise too.
"It takes a lot of good common sense and experience to maintain the lines," IBU member Roger Lowe said. "Normally we have someone out there who has between 10 and 30 years’ experience.
"With union wages you can raise a family in this job. That’s how you can have people with this much experience," Lowe said.
The IBU and MMP members have taken their concerns to San Francisco’s Port Commission and Board of Supervisors and to the city’s representatives in Congress.
The Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Dec. 6, 2005 that supported the retention of the IBU and MMP workers and called on the Port Commission to look at the impact Hornblower’s takeover could have on the city.
Hornblower has yet to publicly discuss the specific ways it would change shoreside operations. Blue & Gold runs from Pier 41 in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf, but Hornblower docks at the smaller Pier 31-1/2 a few blocks away.
"Pier 31-1/2 has none of the infrastructure of Pier 41 and we could be looking at massive traffic and parking problems," Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin told a Feb. 13 IBU/MMP rally.
"We are also concerned with the ancillary economic impacts of moving the service," Peskin said. "Now when you’re a tourist from Peoria or Paris waiting an hour or two for the ferry, you buy from all the neighboring businesses."
Blue & Gold contends Hornblower submitted a flawed bid to NPS, so it filed a challenge in the Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., which hears all federal contract disputes. The challenge questioned whether Hornblower can deliver the new boats, repair the facilities and generate the revenue promised in its bid. Oral arguments in the case were heard Feb. 14.
The unions also took issue with the bid process, saying the Park Service failed to apply the Service Contract Act. The Act requires new companies taking over federal contracts to pay prevailing wages or pay wages and benefits at least equal to those paid by previous contractors.
ILWU International President James Spinosa asked the Dept. of Labor (DOL) to determine whether the Act applies to the Alcatraz contract. DOL made a preliminary decision that it does, but the Park Service maintains the law doesn’t apply to them and refuses to comply. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has continued to press the DOL for a final decision.
"We understand that they’re trying to destroy high-quality union jobs on the Alcatraz route and replace them with jobs that have low wages and benefits, no dignity and no respect," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a message to the Feb. 13 rally. "Those jobs on the Alcatraz route were IBU and MMP jobs yesterday, they are IBU and MMP jobs today, and they should remain IBU and MMP jobs."
After the rally, the workers underscored that point by going together to formally apply for the jobs. With the Local 10 Drill Team setting a spirited pace, they walked down the waterfront to the retired ferry Hornblower uses as an office. MMP Branch Agent Capt. Ray Shipway joined Secchitano in presenting Hornblower with 54 applications from IBU and MMP members.
