WSF engineers: ‘Inslee has run service into the rocks’

Washington State Ferry (WSF) engineers blame Washington State Governor Jay Inslee for all the recent canceled sailings. They say Inslee refuses to pay competitive wages, leading to a lack of staffing.

Wiper, oilers and engineers gathered at Colman Dock on Tuesday to ask for better pay during the ongoing contract negotiations. They said the poor pay has led to a lack of workers and the current staffing problems.

“If you want to say the reality is, the governor has kind of driven the ferry into the rocks at this point, or steered the ferry into rock,” Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA) Secretary Treasurer Roland Rexha told KIRO Newsradio. “Now he has the opportunity to get it out of it, and one of the first ways to do that is address the wage disparity.”

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The engineers are asking for a 20% pay increase to bring them up to the pay levels of those working on the decks. They said the state is only offering 2%.

The engineers have started a public petition to inform passengers of their situation.

“The state’s talking about 26 vessels, 25 vessels, 22 vessels is normal and we don’t have enough engineers for 22,” Rexha said. “We don’t have enough engineers for 15 right now. So this is something we have to address.”

The union said it is currently running 40 to 50 engineers below the staffing levels needed to meet the mandatory Coast Guard requirements.

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The Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) is the agency bargaining with the engineers. It declined to outline exactly what the state is offering the engineer, but it did respond with this statement:

Bargaining is currently ongoing with the MEBA union, along with approximately 30 other groups of represented state workers. Because bargaining is ongoing, we are not able to comment on specifics, but we continue to have confidence in the bargaining process and that we will come to a successful resolution with the parties.”

The current bargaining started in the spring and is for terms and conditions to be in place for the collective bargaining agreement, which will be in effect from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027. The current agreement runs through June 30, 2025.

The state will continue bargaining and the tentative agreements will be submitted to the OFM director by October 1, 2024. At that time, the OFM director must determine whether the agreements are financially feasible.

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