Ferry fares going up again...

[Kildonan]

Aww jeeze Finished Business, Take a deep breath. You CANT characterize a whole workforce like that. Remember, the marine workers are responsible for passenger safety too. Are there those that are milking the system-- no doubt. But who is responsible for allowing that? Just the Union .... or (GASP!) MANAGEMENT!!!

The paintbrush that covers all union workers with the same ****-- it worth that----****.

(now excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap for my potty talk... :-( )

Hear hear!!

Also, you guys who ***** that the union people make more than you and it's unfair, maybe it's YOU who are being treated unfair!! I'm sure some of you think and know you're worth more than you're paid.

And don't tell me there aren't pooch seducers and whiners in the private sector because I KNOW that ain't true.

 

[spring fever]

Really doesn't matter whether it's the unions or management to blame-the fact of the matter is the cost is too high for any kind of travel other than absolute necessity! During the summer I heard a ferry spokesperson lament that ridership was down-she blamed the dollar, the economy, lack of americans-not once was the hi cost of travel mentioned. I have seen threads on here of guys not bringing their boat to the Island anymore due to cost. Most businesses if they are losing market share drop their prices to regain that share. Just sayin!!

 

[wstcoaster]

theres a road to rupert also one to bella coola ferrys are not really needed they were started up for tourisn which is now nostly gone; i dont think unions are the prob.em ferrys to van island are money makers; the one to duke point twassen is no profitable thou

 

[lorneparker1]

Aww jeeze Finished Business, Take a deep breath. You CANT characterize a whole workforce like that. Remember, the marine workers are responsible for passenger safety too. Are there those that are milking the system-- no doubt. But who is responsible for allowing that? Just the Union .... or (GASP!) MANAGEMENT!!!

The paintbrush that covers all union workers with the same ****-- it worth that----****.

(now excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap for my potty talk... :-( )

I agree, you cant paint all unions with that brush, However, you ever try to manage a union envroiment? Good luck with that.

 

[Finished Business]

Aww jeeze Finished Business, Take a deep breath. You CANT characterize a whole workforce like that. Remember, the marine workers are responsible for passenger safety too. Are there those that are milking the system-- no doubt. But who is responsible for allowing that? Just the Union .... or (GASP!) MANAGEMENT!!!

The paintbrush that covers all union workers with the same ****-- it worth that----****.

(now excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap for my potty talk... :-( )

Ya I figured I jumped the gun and would anger a few..... I will be the one of the first to say I was wrong to use such a broad brush to paint those working within unions. I clearly do not work union given my stance. Truly my beef would be on the management end. I just didn't get that far into my opinion. I do not fault, and at times commend people who do work in a union. The benefits, wages and security are tough to beat, and the average person would be a fool not to jump at such oppertunities. I don't call my buddy who works the ferrys an idiot for doing so, I envy him at times for his shift and pay rate.

I could go on, but I can summarize, I have a problem with the way unions are structured, some unions are worse than others. I apologize for painting all into one, but my general feelings for a union do not change. There are hardworking people and slackers, in both union and non-union companies.

In the end this is about Fare hikes on BC Ferrys...which in my opinion, sucks, union or not

 

[Deewar25]

2 simple issues - end of story - fares & wages - of course those are the two issues the ferries would dread talking about. They priced me out a good 5 years ago - I took the car over for first time this year for a wedding and (since we needed to assure we got on) it cost $260. That will be over $290 in 3 years - uh, thats just to get there in a car with a family of 4! Add any sort of stay over or event and you are in the $500 range easy. Whats the point? I'd say the same if I was a tourist coming over.

Then the wages. They whine and snivel about losing 16.5 million, yet as said, to do minimum wage jobs, they are starting at $21+-/hour...yes, to wipe a table, operate a cash register, play crib for 1/2 the trip, take someones money in a booth. Lets get real now - they have ooooo, safety training and special courses! What, no minimum wage jobs require first aid, or food safe, or whatever it may be? They have to deal with unruly or violent customers...ooooo, see if you get any sympathy from the McDonalds workers and 7-11 guys that work downtown douglas late night weekends and have to deal with tripping out heroin junkies and drunks. Their labour costs basically equal ALL other expenses except for their financing. We are talking a whopping $257 million last year. Really? Heaven forbid they request a 6% paycut to break even because then the unions would cry bloody murder. Is is that awful to have to 'start' wiping tables at $19.80/hour? Bet there would be a lineup around the corner if they fired everyone and started fresh with applications. Hell, probably would at $18/hour to start.

Sorry man, but thats not the way business should run - if you are losing money, you lay people off, you force a cut, you cut services, you deal with it internally. You don't turn around and hike fares with a supply/demand service that has already priced most people out. That's just the cowards way of running a business, end of story!

 

[trendsetter]

I don't think the union wage has much to do with the low ridership.

Since our dollar went par with the Americans, that meant less American tourists coming here.

Since the Ferry Corp, continually+continually raised the rates..... that meant a lot of local people think twice about a trip now. Notice the word "Corp."= Corporation...which is what B.C. ferries is........ a corporation requires overpaid CEO's, golden handshakes , gold-plated pensions, and golden parachutes. All the while making as much profit as they can squeeze out of us.

Thank Campbell for giving away perfectly useable ferries to his buddy Dan Washington for less than scrap value......only reason he got rid of them was because they were built by the NDP.

These ferries built in Germany that they are using, don't seem to be any appreciable improvement over what we already had.

You can't blame it on the unions for this one IMO.

I blame the Liberal government...and in the past Gordon Campbell.

It is actually pretty boring riding the ferries. You can only look at so much ocean and waves.

Back years ago they tried having bands playing on the ferries for entertainment. Nothing too heavy, just easy listening. It was quite good.....but they were getting complaints because the captains of the boats didn't like it.

Many of the smaller runs seem to carry more passengers and traffic on any given day than the Liberal Strait-crossing juggernauts.



I can't remember the last time I took a ferry to the mainland. I used to love going to Vancouver back in the day. Now I can't stand the place.

Not sure why you would try to blame the liberals for this. Before the liberals made their changes to the BC Ferry corp the company still lost money. Only then the huge losses were passed directly onto the taxpayers of BC. The NDP management of the ferry system was far, far worse than anything the liberals have done. Don't forget the NDP spent over 600 Million of our dollars on fast ferries that were unfit for service in our waters.

 

[Seafever]

Back when they built the NDP fast ferries it was because people were riding the ferries much more than now and they were whining that it took too long to get to Vancouver.
So they built "fastcats'........too bad they were a little too fast and made huge waves that upset island dwellers with floating docks etc.
They also made a slight miscalculation on engine power.

They had no choice but to run them at "normal" speed....which they did later.......and they ran just fine although no gain in crossing time. They were built in B.C. providing a ton of jobs and employment.

The Liberals could have saved us a ton of money by using these ferries.....but oh no.....like a new lion devouring the previous lion's cubs , Campbell made sure they would never be seen again.

It was an "ethnic cleansing" of the ferry system.

When the NDP left office we were not in the "red" financially. Like we are now.

These new ferries were built in Germany ( the Liberals claimed B.C. marine welders and workers didn't, in a nutshell, have the capability to build a ferry like that ).

Bullquacky. It was simply a Liberal kick-in-the -nuts to local shipbuilding unions.

The ferries built here were every bit as good as the german ones....which despite Liberal b.s. have been prone to dock crashes and engine failures.

There have been other attempts by other companies to come up with "fast" ferries in B.C.

Most did not accept vehicular traffic.

They all tried because people want to get from the island to the mainland faster. So Glen Clark's vision of faster ferry service was not "off the mark".

I was in a union for 42 years.

On the average day I worked my butt off. For 42 years.

You do get some people that are lazy...but you get that anywhere.

Most of the Nanaimo to Vancouver runs are only 25% full or less on any given weekday. And it seems the 12:15 p.m. run is the most popular.

Too many sailings with not enough people aboard.

 

[Seafever]

Yes....well....on the other hand, the population of the island keeps increasing every year.....which means, you would think, that more people would want to use the ferries.
Subdivisions are springing up all over the place like a fungus gone wild on V.I. and have been for a long time.
So the population increase would offset the lack of tourists to some degree.

Do they really need the Duke Point operation?


Also:- there are companies around that will say they lost money but they actually didn't.
It goes like this:- company "A" makes 100 million last year...this year they make 80 million. They will not say they made 80 million this year....they will say they lost 20 million. Because they didn't make 100 million like last year.

 

[terrin]

The NDP for ten years and all the other governing parties before that never lost a ship with lives on board. That goes to the present Liberal government and thier BC Ferry Corporation. They have hit more docks and beaches coming hard than ever before and then buy Million dollar advertising boards at the Cunuck games so they can take thier dignitaries to the games on the taxpayers dime.

 

[trendsetter]

When the NDP left office we were not in the "red" financially. Like we are now.

Yep, the NDP had their first surplus in 2000/2001. Of course that was preceded by 10 years of deficits. Anyone that thinks an NDP government will be any better than the one we have now is sorely mistaken. Instead of favouring corporations like the liberals they will favour unions. So some will be better off but most will not. In the end they are all bad.

Check your pay stubs for how much income tax you were paying under the last NDP government...and get ready to write some more cheques when the next one get in.