Update: This story was updated 10/5/26 at 4:20 p.m. to reflect a statement released from Gov. Ferguson Monday afternoon and more details from WSF. MBN has reached out to MEBA for a response.
ANACORTES, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Ferry commuters are in limbo as a massive outage is impacting a majority of sailings.
Washington State Ferries says that 23 of its engine room employees called out sick this morning, and no other workers were available to take their place.
The absences have caused 13 out of the system’s 18 ferries to stay docked for the day. An update to WSF’s site says that the Port Townsend-Coupeville route returned as of 2 p.m. Monday, bringing the ferries in service to six.
Sources tell KING5 that the so-called “sick-out” came after engine room workers were denied cost-of-living adjustments and raises.
According to The Seattle Times and the Vashon Beach Comber, representatives from the engine room workers’ union – Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA) – denies organizing the sick call-outs made Monday.
My Bellingham Now could not independently verify this despite reaching out for comment.
A survey released by MEBA over the summer found over half of their union members were considering leaving WSF if conditions didn’t improve.
MBN previously reported on other crewmembers calling for action after reporting high levels of burnout.
Engineers took their concerns over a widening wage gap to Gov. Ferguson’s attention in June.
Ferguson has released a statement in response to Monday’s ferry employee outage. He said that he met with local and national union members of MEBA Monday morning.
Union members presented their challenges to Ferguson, who says his door remains open to discussing issues and improving ferry staffing levels.
“My expectation is that every vessel on every route is fully operational no later than the first vessel sailing [Tuesday] morning,” Ferguson said in the statement.
Ferry travelers are strongly encouraged to check WSF’s Travel Alert Bulletins Page before getting in line at a terminal.
Adam Rideout Redeker and Emma Toscani contributed to this story.
