Uncivil passage ... BC Ferries Workers are calling for action on abuse from customers

The Northern Adventure preparing to head out from Prince Rupert

The members of the BC Ferries Marine Workers Union are taking their case for more civility from passengers to management and the public, calling attention to some of the uncivil behaviour, often bordering on abuse that those who staff the ferries often face.

With weather delays and equipment issues at times delaying sailings, or volumes of those looking to travel overwhelms the available sailings on occasion, tempers at times run short when passengers are advised that they won't be boarding until the next sailing or best available opportunity.

The focus for the information campaign appears to be directed towards the heavily travelled southern routes, but as every traveller on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii knows, delays and cancellations of service are often found on the northern routes as well, more likely during the winter and Spring when only one major vessel is in service on the run.

Still, the issue of sailing delays or equipment issues is not the responsibility of those who work on the vessels or answer the phones for reservations, and taking out frustrations on them seems like a misguided approach to solving some of those issues.

BC Ferries Employees are taking a call for more civility to the public
as incidents of verbal and at times physical abuse gain more notice

The awareness program hosted by the union was launched in recent days and cites statistics that indicate that 82% of those who work with BC Ferries have suffered abuse at the hands of passengers.

The majority of it is verbal abuse and includes threats, harassment or in some cases physical violence.

Over half of the unions members say that the abuse is such that it affects their mental health.





BC Ferries does have strict policies when it comes to abuse of their employees, however the union notes that the Ferry Corporation does not always enforce that standard and in some cases has rewarded abusive passengers in the past.

BC Ferries has posted signs noting their policy of no tolerance towards workers at Terminal locations and make announcements at the terminal and on board vessels to remind passengers of that policy.

The union's information campaign includes a link for BC Ferries workers to report abuse.

More on the union's campaign can be found here

For more items of note related to BC Ferries and Ferry service on the North Coast see our archive page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review.