so my company ate big bags of shit today. we've had the Alcatraz ferry contract for 30 years, but the new contract went out for bid last year, and - get this - it went to the NON-union company, Hornblower. can't imagine how the National Park Service ever made that call...perhaps it was the lower wages/increased franchise fee to the feds that Hornblower promised. perhaps it was some timely donations by Hornblower to the Grand Oil Party. perhaps it was a chance to screw unions further. hmmm.

well, as the contract runs for 10 years and is worth from 15-20 million clams per year, maybe Hornblower just couldn't afford to pay comparable wages. except that a judge stipulated that they were required to. so they start them at APPRENTICE scale; less than $14 an hour for deckhands and less than $25 for captains, and there's no schedule in place for when employees graduate to a higher payscale. academic anyway, as they've hired NOT ONE of our captains, who are far and away the most qualified to handle the tides, currents, wind, fog, tanker/container ship traffic, dock landings etc that The Rock demands of an operator. benefits, pensions, 401Ks...not in the picture, and beyond that,

44 captains and deckhands are now out of work.

we had a big rally today -http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/25/BAGNALCCJ616.DTL - i made some signs, whoopie - and talks with the mayor's office are continuing this week. ain't capitalism and anti-union Beltway puppetmasters just the best things ever? so good for the working American guy and gal. it's wot makes this country the greatest in the frikkin world, right Pat?