The Sophia Princess docks in San Francisco. Photo by Michael Terry. by Tom Price
The massive, 77,000 ton cruise ship Dawn Princess dwarfs all around her, and when she ties up to the Pier 27 in San Francisco it looks like an 80-story skyscraper has sailed into port and laid on its side. The 856-foot long vessel represents more than just a big ship when she arrives every 11 days—the work she brings in means jobs for ILWU members. Now the union must expand to fill the orders and fight to protect the jurisdiction.
“Historically, in 2001 we had 36 cruise ships show up in the year, in 2004 we had 90 ships calling, two-and-a-half times as many,” watchmen’s Local 75 Secretary-Treasurer BA Michael Terry said. The port will see nearly 100 big ships in 2006 and about the same in 2007.
Local 75 provides as many as 30 members per shift for each vessel call and a call can last from one shift to several days. Longshore Local 10 members, clerks’ Local 34 and foremen’s Local 91 members have also gained work.
The ILWU worked hard politically to get Pier 27 dredged deep enough for cruise ships, and next February the giant ocean liner RMS Queen Mary II will pay a call. At 1,132 feet long, the QMII is just a few feet shorter than the Empire State Building is tall. Her 157,000 horsepower gas turbine engines drive the 151,400-ton ship at 30 knots, which means she’s built for speed, like the liners of old. The QMII, under British registry, will bring 3,000 passengers and 1,250 crew to San Francisco. The other 80 to 100 vessels next year will each bring nearly as many.
“If the vessels need stores and provisions, they’ll pick up from three to 300 pallets and use a Local 10 crew,” said Local 34’s recent retiree Frank Flores, who has worked many cruise ships. “Baggage handling is also Local 10 work, using maybe 38 to 40 people. Four to five walking bosses would be attached to longshore personnel.”
Manning on cruise ship jobs varies port by port and has been an issue of contention at most of them. The Longshore Division’s Cruise Ship Jurisdiction Committee is working to standardize it for the Coast.
In San Francisco clerks organize the layout of the operation. Baggage is color coded with tags and laid out on the dock in order so it can be stowed or delivered to the passenger.
“The employers tried to use company freight to assist passengers and handle baggage, but the clerks are of the opinion that is ILWU work,” said Local 34 Convention and Caucus Delegate Eddie Gutierrez, who represents Northern California on the Cruise Ship Committee.
Clerks keep accounts on the operation from the time the ship arrives to the time it leaves. The information enables the agents and the stevedoring company to do their billing. They also account for the time it takes to tie up, how long it took to load certain stores and handle baggage. Their records can become a legal document if there are any disputes. The clerks also perform valuable inspection duties on sealed cargo.
“The first thing the clerk does is check the seal,” Flores said. “I carry my cell phone with a camera on it and I take pictures of the container, what it looks like from the time we open the doors to the time we complete the operation. I attach that to the log.”
Local 10 provides on site mechanics and line handlers who tie up and let go the vessel, usually six members to tie up and four to let go.
“There’s a lot of manual labor for Local 10, handling bags and moving stores,” Local 10’s Richard Mead said. “When you do the stores, it’s like the old hand jive longshore work, putting things on pallets, taking things off pallets. One of the nice things about handling bags is the contact with the passengers.
They’re excited to be in San Francisco, they’re excited about leaving on their cruise. You’re walking with them with their bags and you get to talk to them. It’s had a very good impact on our Local 10.”
Some of the biggest changes have come for Local 75 workers.
“In the old days, before Sept. 11, the maximum number ordered per ship was about 14 watchmen and they kept the trucks and taxis from running over people,” Terry said. “Now we have twice as many people called out and two-and-a-half times as many ships.”
Local 75 members didn’t do such an intense security screening before Sept. 11. Now they use much the same equipment as in airports, and they have to do pat downs, increasing their responsibilities.
“They had police do the pat downs, but they decided that was too expensive,” Terry said. “They actually tried to get rid of us by saying they were going to bring in special people, until about two years ago when, with [then ILWU International President] Jim Spinosa’s help we stopped that move.”
The employer, Metropolitan Stevedore Co., has provided more security training for Local 75 members who have an advantage because they are used to being around ships and are familiar with maritime procedures. The workers have also learned better social skills, Terry said.
“One of the things that’s different from the container terminals is that this is more service oriented. In Oakland we’re dealing with boxes. In San Francisco we’re dealing with people, people who complain or have special needs,” Terry said. “Now we also do more social interaction on the cargo docks, so this helps everybody.”
The increased work has come with some growing pains.
“We had a situation in September of last year when we had eight cruise ships in three days! This obviously created a lot of problems filling the orders,” Terry said. “We are clearly becoming a larger local, at this point we have 91 members, the most we’ve ever had, and I see nothing but improvement in the future because the cruise industry is strong, and people forget that these are really big ships.”
