Washington State Ferries, DECISION 479, (PECB, 1978)
Washington State Ferries v. National
marine Engineers Beneficial Assn
INTERIM
ORDER
This matter came on for special
hearing before the Public Employment Relations Commission at 10:00 a.m., July
21, 1978, in the 18th Floor Conference Room of the Peoples National Bank
Building, Seattle, Washington.
The parties were represented as follows:
PETITIONER: ROBERT M. McIntosh, Assistant Attorney General, Fifth Floor, Highways-Licensing Building, Olympia, Washington 98504
RESPONDENT: J. MARKHAM MARSHALL, Attorney at Law, 2000 IBM Building, Seattle, Washington 98101.
This matter came on before this Commission on Notice of Labor Dispute filed July 19, 1978, by the Washington State Ferries, Washington State Department of Transportation. The Commission found that an emergency existed in the form of interruption of ferry service between Seattle and Bremerton and interruption of regular ferry service between Seattle and Winslow.
Accordingly, this hearing was called on less than ten days notice pursuant to 391-70-170(1).
The petitioner and respondent, National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, were present and were represented. The Commission heard the report of its investigator and the testimony of Mr. Berg and Mr. Hardcastle adduced by the petitioner.
The Commission listened to argument of counsel and was fully advised in the premises. The Commission makes and enters the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I
The petitioner is an agency of the State of Washington charged by Law with the responsibility for the operation of a system of ferries on and crossing Puget Sound. The respondent is the representative of licensed marine engineers employed by Washington State Ferries. The petitioner and the respondent have entered into a collective bargaining agreement covering these employees for the period July 1, 1977 until June 30, 1980.
ii.
Section IV of the collective bargaining agreement provides in subsection (a) that this agreement shall apply to all vessels of the employer normally engaged in the transportation of passengers, automobiles and/or freight on Puget Sound and adjacent inland waters, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and the San Juan Islands, and the waters of Canada.
Subsection (b) of section IV goes on to provide that in the event additional vessels are planned, chartered, or otherwise acquired by the employer, or present vessels are re-engined, the employer and the union agree to an immediate conference for the purpose of arriving at and setting forth a minimum wage manning scale, and working schedule mutually agreeable to the parties of each such vessel. In the event the representatives cannot agree in conference upon a basis for settlement within three days, it shall be their duty to refer such controversy or dispute to the Public Employment Relations Commission, established under RCW 47.64. The orders and awards of the Public Employment Relations Commission shall be binding upon any employee or employees, or their representatives affected thereby, and upon the Washington State Department of Transportation.
iii.
The Department of Transportation has entered into a charter agreement with the Boeing Corporation which provides for the operation of a Boeing jetfoil on a trial basis between various cities on Puget Sound during the period from July 19th to September 9, 1978.
The petitioner and the respondent have met on numerous occasions beginning on June 6th, and at other times have conferred for the purpose of arriving at a manning schedule as required by section IV of the collective bargaining agreement. They have been unable to agree on a basis for the settlement, and have reached a stalemate making adjudication by this Commission necessary.
V.
The summer trial operation of the Boeing jetfoil is scheduled to begin Saturday, July 22, 1978.
vi.
Commencing on the morning of July 10, 1978, members of the respondent employed to man the engineering stations on the ferries operated by the petitioner began calling in claiming sickness and members of the respondent who reported for work on the ferry runs between Seattle and Bremerton and between Seattle and Winslow claimed to have become ill and refused to perform their regular work. The respondent professed inability to furnish licensed marine engineers to man these ferries and service was substantially curtailed and interrupted. The respondent threatened to post so-called informational pickets at the jetfoil sailing site publicizing the existence of a labor dispute, and warning the public of safety hazards of traveling aboard the jetfoil. The respondent made no substantial effort to induce its members to return to duty on the cross-sound ferries between Seattle and Bremerton and Seattle and Winslow.
vii.
Such interruption of ferry service deprived the general public of cross-sound transportation and subjected the public to substantial inconvenience and irreparable injury, the extent and amount of which is incapable of exact determination.
From the foregoing findings of fact, the Commission makes and enters the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I.
This Commission has jurisdiction of the parties to this dispute and of the subject matter thereof.
An interim order of this Commission is essential to protect the public from further irreparable harm and inconvenience.
iii.
Both parties violated the contractual provisions quoted above by not referring the labor dispute to this Commission within three days of failing to reach agreement in conference and both parties are remiss in failing to have invoked the statutory procedures enacted by the legislature for the
resolution of disputes involving marine employees employed by the State of Washington.
Based upon the preceding findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Public Employment Relations makes and enters the following order:
0 R D E R
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED That the respondent shall use its best efforts and resources to man all ferries with licensed marine engineers to the end that regular ferry service is restored beginning no later than 3:00 o'clock this afternoon, even if officers and representatives of the respondent have to man the engineering stations themselves, and to maintain the manning of such stations at least until after the close of the hearing on the merits of this dispute on August 14, 1978.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED That the petitioner is not to operate the jetfoil craft with passengers, press or any other guests aboard without a member of the respondent aboard until after the close of the hearing on the merits of this labor dispute on August 14, 1978 unless agreement on other terms is reached with the respondent prior to said date. Pending the hearing on August 14th the respondent may, at his own expense, have one observer at the night jetfoil maintenance points to learn what it wishes to know about the maintenance of the jetfoil.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED That in order to expedite the hearing on the merits of the labor dispute set for Monday, August 14, 1978, any answer which the respondent wishes to file shall be served on the petitioner and filed with the Commission at its Olympia office no later than the close of business Wednesday, July 26, 1978. Any briefs on the facts or law which any party intends to file should be served on the other party and filed with the Commission not later than August 9, 1978. At the hearing on August 14, 1978, there will be no post-hearing briefs allowed.
DONE IN FORMAL HEARING of the Public Employment Relations Commission, this 21st day of July, 1978.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
MARY ELLEN KRUH, CHAIRMAN
MICHAEL H. BECK, COMMISSIONER
PAUL A. ROBERTS, COMMISSIONER