Boat Line Bill Set for Hearing

Sleeper Legislation Would Dilute Island Control of SSA Board; Unions
Back the Measure, Management Does Not

By MIKE SECCOMBE

The Steamship Authority is facing a fresh fight for its independence
over union-backed attempts to change the composition of its board to
dilute local representation and impose an increasing degree of state
control.

To that end, a sleeper bill which would put the boat line under
control of the Executive Office of Transportation and add another member
to the board and to the port council is set for a public hearing before
the Joint Committee on Transportation next week.

The hearing begins on Thursday at 11 a.m. in Room B1 at the state
house in Boston.

Under the bill the new member would be the secretary of
transportation or a designee of that office and the weighted vote of the
two Island boat line governors would be reduced from 70 per cent to 60.

SSA general manager Wayne Lamson said this week that the boat line
will vigorously oppose the bill, which he sees as a possible first step
toward state takeover of the Authority, which now operates entirely
independently. The 47-year-old state-chartered boat line is the only
public transportation agency in the country that operates in the black
without subsidy. The mission of the boat line is to provide dependable
year-round ferry service to the residents of the two Islands.

The bill is similar to one previously rejected, which would have cut
the Islands' weighted board vote to below fifty per cent, Mr.
Lamson said.

"This is a little different from the one we were looking at a
couple of years ago," he said, "but any piece of legislation
that disrupts the operation of something which is working well is very
significant."

Both Mr. Lamson and Cape and Islands Rep. Eric T. Turkington, who
has represented the Island in the state house since 1989, suggested the
bill was a tool being used by unions to try to gain leverage with the
SSA during contract negotiations. The major union involved in
negotiations denies the claim.

Mr. Lamson also noted one of the bill's three sponsors, Rep.
Matthew C. Patrick of Falmouth, has a record of antipathy to Steamship
Authority management.

"I know Matt Patrick was up two years ago before the committee
on transportation telling them there was mismanagement at the highest
levels of the Steamship Authority," Mr. Lamson said, adding:
"He couldn't tell me, after I found out that he had made
those statements, he couldn't give me any specifics.

"And he didn't think he needed to explain himself. But
for some reason he made the statement but then wasn't able to cite
any specific problems or examples of what he considered
mismanagement."

Asked what Mr. Patrick's motivation might be, Mr. Lamson said:
"We're in the middle of a fact-finding process in our
negotiations with the unions. Maybe there are employees [of the boat
line] in his district, who went to their state representative and asked
for some help."

Titled An Act Relative to the Coordination of Intermodal Assets in
the Commonwealth, the bill would not strip the Vineyard and Nantucket
governors of their control over decision making, but it would add a
sixth member to the five-member board and would give the new member
access to the books, records and files of the SSA.

Mr. Lamson said he only became aware of the hearing last week, and
has since been working to coordinate opposition to the bill.

He said it is important for Island officials to attend the hearing
and testify.

"I've been talking to the board individually about it. I
think the county commissioners and some of the boards of selectmen could
speak for their communities about what they feel about the
Authority's operation," Mr. Lamson said.

Mr. Lamson, who began working at the boat line as a ticket-taker
more than 30 years ago, said he sees no need for a state representative
on the board.

Mr. Turkington agreed. "Anyone can see what this is
about," he said. "It's the unions." He
continued:

"The bill was filed not as a government effort to change the
Authority's board, but as a way of drawing attention to the
unhappiness of unions that work at the Authority because they
haven't had a contract for two or three years - which is a
reasonable thing to be unhappy about, quite frankly.

"My understanding is the unions have suggested and the
Authority has agreed for a fact finder to look at the issue [of stalled
contract talks]. That process is under way. I don't think it is
the legislature's job to muddy it up. If they had a settled
contract, you wouldn't see bills like this being proposed."

But Bill Campbell, the Boston area representative for the Maritime
Engineers Beneficial Association, said the union push for changes is
unrelated to the pay dispute.

"Yes, we're in negotiations, but that has nothing to do
with this bill, which would be filed even if we had a contract
tomorrow," Mr. Campbell said. He continued:

"We filed this bill because we're concerned about the
future of the Authority. They raise rates every year and they try to put
the blame on us, on labor costs. But the fact is our costs to the
authority have gone down each of the last four years. The reason rates
are going up is because of management's flawed decision-making
process. There's no real accountability.

"They don't want accountability and what this bill
provides for is for the secretary of transportation to have some
oversight of the Authority. We need transportation expertise to help run
the Steamship Authority. Currently there is none. The board is a hodge
podge of various business people without any transportation experience
and it's reflected in the decisions they make.

"We are pushing this because the future of the Authority is
our future too, and we want it managed better."