Sometimes you just have to state the obvious

The Headline from a story in Monday’s Daily News pretty well confirms what most British Columbians have already figured out, the union and the management teams at B. C. Ferries, don’t particularly seem to like each other.

Cindy Harnett put together a story for Canwest news about morale at the Ferry Corporation and how relations between the union and management are strained, to say the least.

The latest controversial moment in a year filled with many, is a brewing battle over seniority and a threat from the company to change the way it promotes its crew members.

The Daily featured the story on the front page of Monday’s paper.

UNION SAYS FERRY RELATIONS AT NEW LOW
By Cindy Harnett
CanWest News Services
Monday, December 4, 2006
Pages one and three

B. C. Ferries and its union appear headed for a showdown over employee seniority, with the corporation threatening to change the way it promotes crew members in the wake of the Queen of the North disaster.

In an interview this week, Ferries’ president David Hahn said if a report into the sinking points to human error, he is prepared “to go back and revisit the issue” of crew promotion based on seniority rather than competency.

The Transportation Safety Board report is expected to be released next month.

“When we get clarity around (the accident) we’ll take whatever actions we have to,” Hahn said. “It’s unfortunate but that’s what we have to do. We can’t lose sight of what happened. Two people lost their lives.”

Such a move will undoubtedly worsen the already-strained relations between the corporation and the B. C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ union. According to union boss Jackie Miller, relations between the two sides “sank” when the Queen of the North hit Gil Island and plunged to the ocean floor on march 22, killing two passengers.

The two sides are also still dealing with the fact the collective agreement – which sparked a near week-long bitter strike in 2003 – has yet to be settled.

Miller blasted Hahn’s suggestion to revisit crew promotion.

“When they point to one or two people or say it’s the collective agreement that’s responsible for the loss of two lives, or the sinking of the Queen of the North, it is absurd to the point of being laughable, if it weren’t so tragic.”

She said B. C. Ferries is responsible for safety management “from top to bottom” and non-union captains are in charge of all crew. Rather than take responsibility, B. C. Ferries is publicly “crucifying” the Queen of the North’s bridge crew, she said.

The cause of the Queen of the North’s sinking, as in all other maritime casualties, will come down to a complex series of events, Miller said. “You can’t just blame deckhands on the bridge.”

Advisories issued by the safety board in advance of its report said crew were confused about how to use a newly installed steering selector switch and turned off an electronic chart display monitor because they didn’t know how to dim the screen.

Hahn said the corporation may look at providing more management and safety and training issues, but that the competency of bridge crews might also be issues.

Hahn said the company can’t control seniority versus competency issues. However, the contract’s ambiguous status will open a door for discussions.

As it stands now, the union has asked arbitrator Vince Ready to impose a binding collective agreement. It will enter its submission next week.

“We can go back and appeal through the Ready process to make some changes if we have to,’ said Hahn, signaling rough waters ahead.