— from Washington State Ferries —
The 8:30 a.m. sailing from Anacortes to Friday Harbor was delayed approximately 30 minutes due to operational constraints. This will affect he 9:55 a.m. sailing from Friday Harbor to Sidney, the 12:05 p.m. sailing from Sidney to Friday Harbor and Anacortes, and the 1:55 p.m. sailing from Friday Harbor to Anacortes.
Dear WSF,
I’m tired of hearing about operational constraints. That can mean anything and in reality means nothing. We are big people and can deal with the truth. Was it mechanical, not enough crew, union issues, bad weather, docking problems or any number of other causes? Let’s be forthright.
Ron,
I agree. Given that this is the second business day in a row that we have been given this announcement, I believe it is time to start providing us with some specifics.
“Operational Constraints” is WSF-codespeak for “One of the employees associated with the union deliberately didn’t show up for work to punish the system and protest cut hours… and since they only schedule the bare minimum number of crewmembers legally required to operate a ferryboat… voila! No sailing!”
And in the real world the employee would be fired if they continually did not show up for work. This being a union employee means we have a better chance of hell freezing over.
Fortunately I have not been affected (yet) by WSF’s “Operational Constraints”, but I’m curious how the reservations for those cancelled sailings are handled. Does anybody know?
I contacted Dwight Hutchinson as he requested this morning at 206-515-3652, and left a message about Jeanne’s question, also am sending an email. Will let Orcas Issues readers know the response as soon as I do.
Wednesday, April 1
Here’s the email response I got from Dwight Hutchinson, copied to his communications team:
“My role is specific to reservations, but I checked with our communications group RE your first question.
“Just to be clear, the first concern is “Operational constraints” is not a descriptive explanation for a service disruption, correct?
“Mr. Montgomery and others are correct, it’s not a good description and could mean many things. We would like to be more descriptive, and we are having discussions with our labor partners regarding what information we can share publicly. We hope to be in a position to provide better information soon.
“The second link is the story about the public reservations meeting on Orcas Island. Was there a question about that?
“I’m also copying our communications group. Often they are the best sources for WSF information and answers to questions.
Regards,”
Dwight
Here’s a further response from Dwight when I repeated the questions:
“RE #1 we are constrained by our labor agreements. We are working to make those less restrictive in terms of information to the public so that we can provide clearer information. I do not have the authority to provide more detail, nor does anyone else in the organization at this time. In other words, we’re not using the phrase “Operational Constraints” because we don’t know the detail or are trying to obfuscate or chose not to investigate. We’ve been directed to provide that explanation. We hope to change that. Until a change happens, we can’t give you more than “Operational Constraints.”
“I can provide more around #2. This comes directly from the Reservations FAQs. You might find the document helpful, here’s the link:
https://secureapps.wsdot.wa.gov/Ferries/Reservations/vehicle/shared/Save_a_Spot_FAQs.pdf
“31. What happens if WSF needs to cancel a sailing for unexpected mechanical or weather issues?
“In the event that a sailing is cancelled, WSF will communicate the cancellation(s) to customers via travel alerts (if you have stored your information with WSF), our website and the Highway Advisory Radio. No new reservations will be available for that day.
“Customers with reservations who are affected by cancellations will not be charged the no-show fee if they choose not to travel.
“Customers with reservations who choose to travel will still be prioritized once service is reinstated, though they may experience delays.
“At the terminal, WSF will give boarding priority to reservation holders on the dock, then to standby customers who are already on the dock. The terminal will then operate on a first-come, first-served basis for reservation holders. Additional standby customers will be able to travel only after all reservation holders have been accommodated.”
In addition, Marta Coursey called to say that the “operational constraint” referred to in this article was not a labor issue, but was due to the misloading of vehicles on the Anacortes-Sydney ferry.