Union says spring break cancellations show BC Ferries still behind on hiring

The union wants to see more stability for casual workers, while the company needs to improve pay packages to help recruit and retain Transport Canada certified officers.

After a week that saw more than a dozen BC Ferries sailings cancelled due to crew shortages, the union representing ferry workers says the company needs to put more money into recruiting.

The cancellations represented a small fraction of the thousands of sailings completed over the same period, but still left families on spring break facing travel headaches.

“We think about spring break and May long weekend as the first two stress tests going into the summer,” B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union president Eric McNeely told Global News.

McNeely said the union wants to see more stability for casual workers, while the company needs to improve pay packages to help recruit and retain Transport Canada certified officers.

He said many of the recently cancelled sailings involved older secondary vessels, and pointed to the need to put money into recruiting skilled workers for BC Ferries’ maintenance facility.

The province, which is the ferry company’s sole shareholder, recently allocated half a billion dollars to BC Ferries, with the requirement it keep fare increases below three per cent per year.

McNeely said he’d like to see some of that money used to bolster its workforce.

“I think there’s a real opportunity to look at how we advance people careers within ferries, and that could include apprenticeships, cadet programs, and general development, leadership training of staff existing at ferries and incoming,” he said.