NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Lights etc.
From: Dave Weilacher
Date: 2003 Oct 10, 12:28 -0700
From: Dave Weilacher
Date: 2003 Oct 10, 12:28 -0700
If I remember the merchant marine situation correctly, at the time, a seaman was being paid like $10 per hour plus room and board. However, he was also being paid at time and 1/2 for an additional 8 hours per day. The argument being that they didn't have anywhere else to go so that was fair. At the same time, he was complaining about our vessels being under manned, because of cost cutting. He was also complaining that they were severely restricted in the number of days they could work per year. It takes little imagination or arithmetic skill to figure out they could double their crews, if the overtime pay wasn't mandatory. Even though the wages didn't sound all that attractive on the surface, when you include room and board and limited ability to spend, it sure sounded good for the time. This wasn't an issue of the rich getting richer while the poor whined about it. It was a matter of a union strangling american shipping and their own membership out of greed. Dave Weilacher .US Coast Guard licensed captain . #889968 .ASA instructor evaluator and celestial . navigation instructor #990800 .IBM AS400 RPG contract programmer
