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Originally Posted by Senior
Keep in mind those "lazy" union workers are all required to be fully trained for a marine accident. Would you really prefer to have a bunch of minimum wage morons in charge of saving your life on one of those boats in the event of an accident? Also with good salaries and working conditions comes a much higher employee retention rate which saves a lot of money in retraining expenses. The race to the bottom doesn't always end up in a better or less expensive product. In fact to my understanding didn't B.C. Ferries just go through a major shake up/privatization to cut costs already?
As far as the price increase I wouldn't jump out in favor of it without looking into the issue a bit. Those ferries are a life line for tourism on Vancouver Island and all the Gulf Islands for that matter and keeping them inexpensive isn't necessarily a bad thing if it attracts more tourism dollars. Keep in mind these are communities that have been hit very hard in recent years by a sharp drop off in the resource based economy.
As for the Vancouver Province, have they ever even made the pretense of offering quality journalism?
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Quazi-valid points. I have friends who've shlepped trays for BC Ferries, and I can assure you, even they thought 19 bucks was an outrageous wage for their level of training and their day-to-day tasks. Dude, lifeguards don't even get paid as much as a tray cleaner on BC ferries - and they're far more likely to use their 'lifesaving skills' as the momo who vacuums the floor. Lifeguards are also far better trained than those you've called 'lazy' union workers. But this thread isn't about that. Nor is it about a fucking seadoo, but whatever.
What it is about is a fuel surcharge. And the issue is it's 5%. And people get up in arms about it. They forget they live in a global economy. People get pissed off at the slightest things. And they are so nearsighted that I feel like I need to make them the subject of a punching bag thread. (this passage was written in calmness, really)
I guarantee you an increase in 2 dollars per car would have 0% effect on the tourism industry in Victoria and the island. Of course, I haven't seen research specifically about BC Ferries, but other modes of transportation that supply tourists to destinations have seen little consumer response to 5% fare increase (eg. airlines). The majority of users of BC Ferries aren't even tourists anyway.
And living on the island is no reason for special treatment. You choose to live there, you pay the prices to get back and forth. Does this look like Quebec?