A Staten Island Ferry boat at St. George in 2018.
Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office
Staten Island Ferry workers have finally reached a new labor deal with the city, after going 13 years without a contract and seeing their wages stagnate.
Mayor Eric Adams and the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA), the union representing 150 Staten Island Ferry crew members, fittingly announced the new contract on Labor Day at the ferry terminal in St. George.
“All of us are proud of this moment. It was a long time, you went through several administrations and you had very difficult moments,” the mayor said. “We wanted to get this deal done. I was very clear, bring the ferry to the goddamn dock.”
The new contract, which was ratified by union members on Friday, delivers sixteen years’ worth of raises to the captains, assistant captains, and mates represented by MEBA. The raises apply retroactively going back to 2012, and will remain in force until the contract expires in 2027. Engineers, meanwhile, will be paid prevailing wages as laid out by an April ruling from the City Comptroller’s office.
In effect, Staten Island Ferry workers will go from the nation’s lowest-paid ferry workers to the highest, said the head of MEBA, Roland “Rex” Rexha.
Captains, whose pay capped out below $71,000 in 2010, will see their top salaries rise to $180,000. Chief marine engineers’ top pay will increase from $69,000 to $180,281. Marine engineers will go from $64,000 to $145,000, assistant captains will bump from $63,000 to $138,000, and mates will get raises from $58,000 to $124,400.
MEBA members will also start working 40-hour workweeks, up from 32, which officials say will alleviate the labor shortages that have scrambled ferry service in recent years. Members will also get to start taking vacation in one-week blocks instead of only two-week periods. The contract takes effect next month.
“Throughout the two previous administrations, it often felt like…
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