Viewpoints
IBU Contract Not Ratified:
One sided
By Ronald C. Currit
July 02, 2008
Wednesday
Your article titled IBU Contract Not Ratified seems to
be only one sided, it only says what was offered BUT it does
not say what was being changed or taken away.
One important thing to be noticed
was just last night an employee of the AMH fell into the ocean
while tying up at Wrangell, and with the states proposed TA that
employee would possibly have died because the state does not
think there should be two people tying up the ferries but only
one per line! This would have left that unfortunate person with
no one to call for help!
Anothe item was that most of
the other Union agreements got a 5% raise retroactive but the
state only offered the IBU a 3% non retroactive.
The sick leave system to a personal leave system would have taken
away 40% of the leave that the IBU members already have. It would
have taken away 40% of what they have already earned as well
as what they would earn in the future.
There are a lot of other reasons
as well such as not letting the ferry workers work on the ships
in drydock, but to hire contractors at a much higher wage for
that work and letting our own Alaska ferry workers keep working
even when the ships are not sailing.
So your article is great but there are a lot of things it does
not say.
Thought you should know.
Thank you for Sitnews - it's great.
Ronald C. Currit
rvcurrit[AT]starband.net
Received July 01, 2008 - Published
July 02, 2008, 2008
Related News:
IBU Contract Not Ratified - A tentative agreement (TA)
on a three-year contract covering the period of July 1, 2008
through June 30, 2011 was not ratified in the Friday, June 27th
vote. Although the contract wasn't ratified, the Inlandboatmen's
Union of the Pacific (IBU) and State of Alaska negotiators plan
to meet again soon to see what adjustments can be made to the
proposals in the hopes of reaching agreement. - More...
Monday - June 30, 2008
Related Viewpoint:
 IBU
members not the bad guys By Diane Charrier
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