Leaders from 6 Maine island communities ask Governor Mills to get personally involved in getting the Maine State Ferry Service back on track

Motorists line up July 18, 2024, at the Rockland terminal of the Maine State Ferry Service. For over a year, ferry cancellations largely due to understaffing and low pay have created major disruptions in the lives of Maine islanders. This month, leaders from six Maine island communities and their representatives on the Maine State Ferry Service Advisory Board formally asked Governor Janet T. Mills to get personally involved in getting the ferry service back on track.

As cancellations by the Maine State Ferry Service continue disrupting life for Maine islanders, the Selectboards and ferry service advisory board representatives from six island communities have issued pleas for help to Governor Janet T. Mills. They formally asked Governor Mills to “become personally involved in ensuring the Maine State Ferry Service is able to perform its scheduled runs to each island,” according to copies of their letters to the governor.

“As we understand things, the principal problems are hiring and retaining ferry crew members,” the Selectboards or ferry service advisory board representatives from Frenchboro, Matinicus, North Haven, Swan’s Island and Vinalhaven wrote July 11 to the governor. “The challenges to hiring and retaining crew include both rates of pay and meeting U.S. Coast Guard licensing requirements. We have been told these problems are insurmountable; but we are confident that your personal involvement and leadership could succeed where other efforts have not.”

The Islesboro Selectboard and their ferry service representative sent a similar letter to Governor Mills on July 15. Their letter added, “We would like to see this resolved in a fair and equitable way to retain and attract new workers and retain existing staff.”

Pleas to Governor Mills came after community forums were held June 20 on Islesboro and June 4 on Vinalhaven to address ferry cancellations largely due to understaffing and low pay. In the past two years, preventable staffing shortages have caused ferries to be canceled and terminals closed. This has left passengers missing medical appointments, cancer treatments and school sports. During these times, freight hasn’t gotten to the island communities, which interferes with the islanders and an economy that depends on an uninterrupted ferry service. Crews have had to work extra shifts to allow other coworkers to get to appointments and take vacation.

The Maine State Ferry Service Advisory Board on July 18 discussed the need to get ferry services back on track. Joining in that discussion in Rockland were State Rep. Lydia Crafts, Chair of the Maine Legislature’s Transportation Committee, and State Rep. Valli Geiger, whose House District 42 includes Matinicus Isle Plantation. Both legislators asked pointed questions to the DOT managers in attendance, including MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note.

In recent weeks, public pressure has been building on the MaineDOT, which operates the Maine State Ferry Service, to address the underlying problems, namely understaffing and low pay, that have led to recurring ferry cancellations. Over 200 community members in the ferry service’s service area have signed on so far to a public letter to MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note asking him to get the ferry service back on track. “We urge you to address the ongoing staffing crisis within the ferry service,” the public letter states. “Our neighbors who work for the Maine State Ferry Service deserve a living wage that can support them and their families, particularly when the cost of living and housing scarcity pose such challenges to retaining experienced crew and staff along the coast and on Maine’s islands.”

The public outcry over the recurring ferry cancellations prompted management of the Maine Bureau of Human Resources on July 22 to present a proposal to the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989), which represents the ferry service workers. It outlines a short-term, six-month recruitment and retention “incentive program” that would expire Dec. 31, 2024. While representatives of MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 were encouraged that the administration is starting to take steps to address the staffing crisis, they said the proposal does not provide the pay raises or structural changes necessary to address the understaffing and low pay at the ferry service.

“This seems shortsighted,” MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 Member and Maine State Ferry Service Able Bodied Seaman Jason Hall said of management’s proposed six-month incentive program for the ferry service. “While on the surface it sounds like a good incentive, there are too many restrictions to this proposal. For example, it penalizes anyone who takes vacation before the end of the year, or employees who might need to use their earned paid time off.”

Members of MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 for years have been calling on state government to close the state employee pay gap – the difference between what State of Maine workers are paid compared to their public and private sector counterparts throughout Maine and New England.

Two state-commissioned studies, one in 2009 and the other in 2020, show that State of Maine workers are substantially underpaid compared to the wages earned by their public and private sector counterparts throughout Maine and New England. The 2020 study showed that on average, state workers are underpaid by 15 percent, and it’s even worse for many classifications – accountants are underpaid 20 to 33%; chemists, 24%; civil engineers, 20 to 25%; mechanics, 31%; and correctional officers, 16%.

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The Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union, represents over 13,000 Maine workers, including workers in all three branches of Maine State Government.