Staff Reports
The Puget Sound woke up to chaos this week when a handful of engine-room workers at Washington State Ferries called in sick and most of the system stopped running. Twenty‑three absences left ferry operators below the legal minimum crew on many boats. Commuters were stranded. The state scrambled. The question now is not just who called out, but why the system was so fragile in the first place.
What happened on the water
A small group of 23 engine‑room employees missed morning watches. WSF says relief crews also declined to fill the gaps. At the peak of the disruption about 13 of the 18 active vessels were sidelined. Major commuter routes were hit hard. Riders had to find other ways to work. WSF warned the public and urged employees to return so service could resume.
Union, state and the immediate fight
The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association says it did not order a strike and calls the absences “a frantic cry for help” over chronic understaffing and nonstop overtime. The state, including Governor Bob Ferguson, demanded service be restored quickly and put pressure on the union. WSF pointed out that chief engineers earn high pay when overtime is included — a fact the agency used to stress the skill and cost of those jobs while asking for help to crew boats.
The backstory nobody wants to admit
This single morning’s chaos exposes a years‑long problem. During the state vaccine mandate era WSF lost roughly 120 workers, concentrated in engine‑room roles like oilers and assistant engineers. Those losses cut redundancy and wrecked relief staffing. Add retirements, recruitment struggles and heavy overtime, and you have a brittle system waiting for a small shock to break it. That’s not just bad planning — it’s political hubris meeting operational reality.
Fix it — don’t posture about it
If state leaders want fewer commuting headaches they should stop the virtue signaling and fix staffing. That means serious recruiting, realistic pay and overtime reforms, emergency contingency crews, and yes, reconsidering whether firing trained hands en masse was a smart move. If the sick‑out was unlawful there should be consequences. But if the system is hollow from years of mismanagement and ideological choices, finger‑wagging won’t bring the boats back. Let’s have competence, not lectures, guide the next steps.
