MEBA Ferry Workers
Winning Competitive Wages For Ferry Workers in AK and WA
Winning historic pay raises for ferry engineers in Alaska, and increasing public support for Washington ferry crews, by generating big press coverage, public petitions, and opposition to continued short-staffing, reduced and unreliable ferry service due to uncompetitive wages.
Challenges
The ferry engineers’ union, the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, is not allowed to strike, limiting their leverage in contract negotiations with state agencies. Uncompetitive wages are driving burnout, inadequate staffing, an over-reliance on overtime, reduced and unreliable ferry service at both the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and in the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS).
Results
In Alaska, MEBA engineers who work for the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) won an historic double digit wage increase in their 2025 contract negotiations, making headlines and publishing an op-ed on the victory in the Juneau Empire.
In Washington, our media campaign got the attention of the Seattle Times, which weighed in on its editorial page in favor of increasing pay for crew members. Incoming Governor Bob Ferguson made restoration of ferry service a top priority for his Administration. And WA state lawmakers passed legislation to put the state on a path to providing more competitive wages to ferry system crew members.
How We Did It
PowerHouse generated public petitions, provided messaging and spokesperson training for ferry workers, facilitated media tours, held press briefings, and published op-eds, resulting in massive press coverage in Washington during the busy summer ferry season. In Alaska we published op-eds in the Anchorage Daily News, Ketchikan Daily News, Juneau Empire and Wrangell Sentinel, and garnered feature stories in the Juneau Empire and statewide radio coverage that put this fight in the public eye.
Seattle Times 8/19/24
To restore WA ferries, ensure wages are
competitive