Full Breakdown
Washington State Ferries Service Disruptions Trigger Union Backlash
By Drooid · · How we work
Service Disruptions on WSF Routes
On a Monday morning, Washington State Ferries (WSF) announced that 23 engine-room employees had called out sick, leaving only five of the agency’s 18 vessels able to sail. The agency cancelled three high-traffic routes—Seattle-Bainbridge Island, Edmonds-Kingston, and Southworth-Vashon-Fauntleroy—and reduced all other routes to a single-boat service. As a result, wait times at terminals exceeded two hours.
Union MEBA’s Response
The Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA), representing the absent workers, said it had no role in coordinating the mass call-outs and learned of the disruptions through media reports. The union contended that WSF had cut engine crews to the legal safe minimum, forcing remaining engineers to work “abusive amounts of overtime,” sometimes exceeding 1,500 hours per year. MEBA also highlighted a wage gap: deck officers earn roughly 20 % more than below-deck engineers, who earn about 40 % less than the standard salary for comparable maritime engineers in the private and public sectors.
Underlying Staffing and Wage Issues
The dispute traces back to long-standing concerns over wage disparities that surfaced during collective-bargaining negotiations in 2024. Governor Bob Ferguson signed legislation last year that updated the salary-survey process for ferry-worker negotiations, but the union argues the changes have not closed the gap.
Official Statements & Responses
WSF’s social-media post framed the call-outs as a refusal by employees to “keep the ferries running,” citing the base salary of chief engineers ($157,000). MEBA reiterated its willingness to cooperate with WSF management to restore service.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Contrary to the coy implication in WSF management’s social media post, today’s call-ins were not initiated or aided by the Union,” — The MEBA
- “The conditions that cause crew shortages and canceled sailings remain unchanged. We will see delays and missed sailings in the summer and unreliability will continue to be an issue if the wage gap between engineers and our deck counterparts is not closed,” — Eric Winge