- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 430
Chief Stoker said:I'm not a fan of unions, never have been. If it were a para military force modeled after the US Coast Guard, there would be definitely less personnel just quitting or phoning in sick, that sort of stuff that comes with a civilian based organization.
There's more to it than just calling it a union issue.
Many of the crew are on casual contracts, meaning they're contracted for the length of the trip only, with no guarantee of employment after that, many are also on term contracts, for between a month and a year... When private industry is offering you double or triple the money, would you stick around for "we might have something for you next month"? The hiring freeze on permanent employees over the last couple of years only compounded the issue.
Add to that the average age of crew in the fleet is 50+, they're being hit hard with the retirement of the baby boomers.
They've literally dragged people out of retirement homes on occasion.
IMO the whole organization, not just the fleet, needs a complete top down rethink and turnover of staff, but that's a much larger issue than a couple of guns, and it's not going to happen.
It's unfortunate really, back to the subject of the boomers retiring, really if you could come up with a plan, and the political will to follow through, now would be a great time for it, but good luck with that.