SIU boatmen employed by Crescent Towing in three southern states have overwhelmingly ratified new three-year contracts that call for wage increases and other gains while maintaining benefits.One agreement covers boatmen in the New Orleans area and in Savannah, Ga. The other applies to members in Mobile, Ala. The contracts virtually are identical except for minor provisions specific to the ports’ respective layouts.
Altogether, more than 150 Seafarers are covered by the agreements, including approximately 130 in New Orleans and Savannah. Voting took place aboard the boats and at the SIU halls in New Orleans and Mobile. Approximately 95 percent of members voting in New Orleans and Savannah approved their new contact; in Mobile, the tally was 22-0 in favor.
Negotiations started in March and ended in late April, as the old contract was about to expire.
SIU Vice President Gulf Coast Dean Corgey headed the union’s negotiating team. He described the sessions as “some of the more difficult and complicated negotiations we’ve seen. We hit a ‘perfect storm’ of sorts with rising benefit costs and a red-hot labor market in the Gulf, not to mention a very challenging regulatory environment. But everyone bargained in good faith, and at the end of the day we hammered out a contract that’ll enable crew members and families to rebuild their lives (continuing recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita). At the same time the company says they’re very optimistic about the future. We did something positive for a troubled region in our country.”
Corgey added that the rank-and-file members serving on the bargaining committees “hung in there, worked together and did the right things to get this contract done. The Crescent boatmen in all ports have always been some of the most stand-up union guys in the SIU, and I can tell you that the tradition if anything has grown stronger. We walked away with good relations with the company and we’re once again leaders in wages and benefits while allowing the company to maintain their competitiveness with the non-union operators. In fact, Crescent has always been the dominant company in that region, and it’s not because they pay low wages or use cheap equipment. It’s because they have the best people, and this contract will attract more of the same.”
Also serving on the union negotiating team were Mobile Port Agent Ed Kelly, New Orleans Port Agent Chris Westbrook, Deckhand Doug Lewis from Savannah, Engineer Glen Richard, Captain/Deckhand Billy Barletto and Captain Tim Gegenheimer from New Orleans, and Captain Henry Tucker, Engineer Kyle Tucker and Deckhand Dan Hanbury from Mobile.
Besides increasing wages and maintaining medical and pension benefits, the new contracts also boost vacation pay and the grocery allowance, add a day to the bereavement allowance, and stipulate reimbursements for boatmen’s documentation, including license renewals, the TWIC and more. They also formalize a practice that has existed for years in which qualified deckhands, for extra compensation, relieve captains to allow the boats to potentially increase the amount of time they stay on duty.
“We’re very happy,” said Gegenheimer. “We moved up in everything and it’s definitely a good contract. They were hard-fought negotiations but we finally ironed it out.”
Barletto noted that this was his first time serving on a negotiating committee. “I learned from the experience and it went well,” he said. “You got to learn from both sides of the table. We ended up with plusses and no negatives. You can’t make everybody happy but I think the majority are very pleased with the outcome.”
Lewis noted that—as is the case in most if not all labor negotiations these days—medical benefits were a focal point of the Crescent talks. “I’m happy with what we got and I think all the other guys are, too,” he stated. “Everybody stuck together, and that’s what needs to happen in cases like this—and not just at Crescent Towing. If you’re not united, you might as well hang it up.”
Westbrook described the agreements as “something the membership, the union and the company can be proud of. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Kelly cited Corgey’s effective work throughout the negotiations, as did others. “In particular I think the unanimous vote in Mobile speaks volumes about the job that Dean did in these negotiations,” he said.
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