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Mystic Seaport Workers Ready For Union Vote

Harriet Jones

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Chion/hj%20120816%20sb%20seaport.mp3

Workers at Mystic Seaport take to polls Friday to vote on whether to form a union. As WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports, it’s the latest stage in what has become a contentious labor relations saga for the famous museum.

Working at Mystic Seaport is about as far as you can get from the traditional 9 to 5.

“I do blacksmithing, sailmaking, coopering, sail handling, and then talk about the historical relevance of all the artifacts and exhibits around the Seaport.”

That’s Mike Bartles. He works in the museum’s interpretation department, and he’s one of the main supporters for forming a union through the American Federation of Teachers, among about 250 non-supervisory staff.

“There’s a very serious disconnect between our senior management and your average employee on the grounds.”

Bartles says while he would like an improvement in pay at the institution, the main issue is a reduction in benefits and hours, uncertainties created by the financial cutbacks that the Seaport has had to make in recent years.

“The big thing that rallied everyone was the six-week closure this winter, with no discussions and all of a sudden our hours were cut. Our hours have been cut going into the winters, and we felt we need to be able to negotiate and have a set contract that guarantees us really what we need to survive and do our jobs with.”

“We don’t want the union. We’ve been very clear about that.”

Dan McFadden is the Seaport’s official spokesman.

“We really value the ability to work with our employees directly, talk with them directly, discuss things directly. And to have to go through a union would add a whole other layer, and a layer of people who aren’t familiar with what we do.”

McFadden says the Seaport has had to take some drastic steps to make it through the recession, including a ten percent cut in staff in 2009 and a three million dollar reduction in its operating budget.

“The employees have had to bear a heavy burden and we understand that. You know, some people lost their jobs, hours have been reduced. But we had to make those tough choices to keep the museum solvent. We’ve eliminated our debt now, we’ve done a lot of things to put us on very stable ground.”

He says visitor numbers made a great improvement this Spring, and the museum is on a new footing with future plans for expansion.

“We’ve heard a lot that we have not done adequate communication and we really haven’t sought enough input over the last several years. We recognize that that’s true. This unionization process has really opened our eyes to some of the things we honestly were not doing well. However, with that understood and those things out in the open now, we feel we’re in a better position, we’re talking – we can move forward without having a union and do what we need to do.”

Mike Bartles agrees that Seaport management has changed its attitude since the unionization push began, and he has seen concessions on some of their concerns. But he still believes a union is essential.

“It is an absolutely remarkable place. It’s an institution of higher learning. And so the reason we’re fighting for this is that we need to be able to keep skilled staff. We need to have shipwrights who are able to put together the last wooden whale ship the Charles Morgan. With all the cutbacks that are coming down it’s becoming tougher and tougher to contribute to a positive visitor’s experience. And really that’s what this is all about – trying to make the Seaport stronger.”

Neither side will say for sure what they believe the outcome of Friday’s vote will be, nor what steps they will take in the aftermath.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.

Harriet Jones is Managing Editor for Connecticut Public Radio, overseeing the coverage of daily stories from our busy newsroom.

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