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Author Topic: Shipyard worker wages
harborman
First Class Passenger
Member # 1248

posted 06-21-2002 10:43 AM      Profile for harborman   Email harborman   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hello All,
I know there are many who post on this board from Europe and I hope you can help me with something.
I've always wondered what the hourly wage is for shipyard workers in the yards in Europe. Specifically in Germany at the Meyer-Werft yard where the Brilliance of the Seas was just completed.
I'm sure there are different scales based on different trades so any information about all the trades would be apperciated.
Also do the yard workers belong to unions in Europe?
I'd love to visit the Meyer-Wefrt facility if I ever get to that part of Germany, I think the ships they build there are the best in the world, both from a design and quality standpoint.
Thanks

Posts: 147 | From: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Apr 2000  |  IP: Logged
Dolphins
First Class Passenger
Member # 2043

posted 06-21-2002 10:54 PM      Profile for Dolphins   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Like harborman, I am also interested in why cruise ships are being constructed in Italy, France, Germany and Finland but not in the U.S.
Can the wage difference be that great? I personally favor the beautiful ships constructed for HAL by Fincantieri of Italy. I look forward to sailing on each new one and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Posts: 324 | From: Commack, New York | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
origo
First Class Passenger
Member # 1852

posted 06-22-2002 06:37 AM      Profile for origo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The difference is not the wages but US don’t have the know how to build advanced cruise ships.
The sad truth is that US not is a first class maritime nation

Posts: 40 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
Dolphins
First Class Passenger
Member # 2043

posted 06-22-2002 10:41 AM      Profile for Dolphins   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I must take issue with origo in stating the U.S. is not a first class maritime power. A country which can build nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines and place men on the moon certainly has the "know-how" to build a cruise ship. I would also remind origo that the last cruise ship the U.S. built- the United States, was faster than any cruise ship built in Europe. During WWII, the U.S. constructed more ships than the rest of the world combined so to say we don't have the "know how" is balderdash.
Posts: 324 | From: Commack, New York | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
cruisemole
First Class Passenger
Member # 2459

posted 06-22-2002 12:17 PM      Profile for cruisemole   Email cruisemole   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
US yards dont have the track record of building passenger, and they would have some catching up to do with European and Far Eastern Yards in the specialised skills and experience needed. Who wants to pay for that learning curve?
Posts: 343 | From: dear ol'blighty | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Dolphins
First Class Passenger
Member # 2043

posted 06-22-2002 01:06 PM      Profile for Dolphins   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Point well taken cruisemole which makes the reason cost and not inability due to lack of "know how." If it were profitable, the U.S. would build them.
Posts: 324 | From: Commack, New York | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
harborman
First Class Passenger
Member # 1248

posted 06-22-2002 02:23 PM      Profile for harborman   Email harborman   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hi again,
I'm hoping some of the readers of this board in Europe who really seem to have their finger on the pulse of the shipyards can help with this question.
Also how many hours are concidered the normal work week for yard workers and do they get paid overtime for hours beyond a set number each day or once they go over the normal weekly hours.
I check the web cam for Meyer-Werft each week to watch the progress on the two ships that you can see in the picture and it really amazes me how much gets added each week.

Posts: 147 | From: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Apr 2000  |  IP: Logged
Amerikanis
First Class Passenger
Member # 1835

posted 06-22-2002 03:28 PM      Profile for Amerikanis   Email Amerikanis   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Harbourman, Meyer is an Company with an Experience of many, many Years.

German Workers are well educated, disciplined, work hard and for Quality.

The Region in which Meyer is, has an Structure-Problem, the Meyer Shipyard is the biggest Employer and guarantees an lot of Jobs.

The People there can not choose under an big Number of good Companies, like in Munich or Stuttgart. So, they will earn Tarif Wages, but the Wages in that Region are not the highest in Germany and i am not sure, if they get a lot of "EXTRAS".


Posts: 1034 | From: Gutach, Black Forest, Germany | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
harborman
First Class Passenger
Member # 1248

posted 06-23-2002 06:55 PM      Profile for harborman   Email harborman   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hi Amerikanis, Thanks for the reply, but I'm still trying to put a dollar figure on what the wages would be for a yard worker, can you tell me what the Tarif Wages are, is that a scale like 100 marks a week? Still trying to figure out how much someone makes a week building the cruise ships.
I saw some pictures of the Brilliance of the Seas headed down(?) river, great shots of the ship passing over a tunnel for car traffic, now I think I know why they can't make the channel deeper in the river.

Anyway anyone out there who knows about the wages please join in.
Thanks


Posts: 147 | From: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Apr 2000  |  IP: Logged
ocngypz
First Class Passenger
Member # 1555

posted 06-23-2002 07:25 PM      Profile for ocngypz   Email ocngypz   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I don't know about the European wages, but in the late 1980's Electric Boat in Connecticut was paying low level "carpenters" $18.00 per hour on submarine construction. Of course, being a government contract, the yard had to pay "union" scale.


The difference between building cruise ships in the US and Europe.... the European shipyards do get subsidies.......we haven't done too well here in the US with our subsidized building program!!
Bottomline, I don't think American Shipyards can be cost competitive with our high overheads for insurance, etc. I remember all the lovely ships which were built in the 30's..... not an hour north of me....... the shipyard now in a disgraceful condition.... most of the great shipyards in New England are now gone.


Posts: 343 | From: Newport, RI USA | Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged
Budgie
First Class Passenger
Member # 2902

posted 06-24-2002 10:41 AM      Profile for Budgie   Email Budgie   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have tried to find out some solid information today but without any luck, I will though keep trying. Information so far.

Average wages for a skilled tradesman working in a European shipyard around £25,000 pa +. An average working week is between 35 and 37.5 hours with overtime paid after that at time and half. I do not know about the rest of Europe but UK ship yards workers are all in a union.

I had a couple of family members who worked for Cammell Lairds ship yard in Birkenhead, they specialised in building Royal Navy submarines, (the last being the nuclear powered HMS Unicorn) and war ships. As a result when the orders for these dried up the yard, at that time, had great difficulty in attracting orders for cruise ships as the skills required for building cruise ships are different from the skills needed to build war ships
A couple of years ago they did win and successfully complete a contract for the re-fit of Airtours 'Sunbird' and they should have completed a contract to lengthen the Costa Classica by adding a 26,000 ton mid section. It appears the Costa shipped turned back two thirds of the way to the ship yard and the work was never completed, effectively sealing the fate of the ship yard. The completed section though was launched and is now apparently for sale!
As an aside issue Lairds were also rumoured to have been in the running for a contract to build two 28,000 ton luxury cruise ships for a Florida based company, but again this came to nothing.
One great memory I had is that as a child I was invited to the launch of a ship by my uncle, who worked there as a boiler maker. The ship was called Sigleon and it was an old fashioned down the slipway into the Mersey launch. I was only about 8 or 9 at the time but I've never forgotten that day. I wonder if I'll see another.


Posts: 174 | From: Liverpool: The world in one city. | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Amerikanis
First Class Passenger
Member # 1835

posted 06-24-2002 04:07 PM      Profile for Amerikanis   Email Amerikanis   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Harborman, it is much more than 100 Marks an week.

It is the Question of the Qualification of the Worker, the Qualification makes the Money.

I think, they start at about 2000-2500 Euros/Dollars a Month, Working Time in Metal Industry in Germany is 35 Hours per Week.

I do not posess the Tarifs of Metal Industry, so i can not tell you exact.

Leading Positions are all payed outside the Tarif.

In Chemical Industry, we have Tarif Classes from 1 to 13, you are rated by the Job you do and your Quality.

A lot of Poeple are payed outside the Tarif, much more or less, if they have Jobs with low Qualification or their Employer is not Member of the Employers Union.

My Employer is Member of the Union, from Frankfurt (this is cheaper than Stuttgart or Munich for him. Frankfurt is Tarif Zone Hessen/Thüringen, that makes a lot of Money less than Tarif Zone Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, the southern States are the best in Germany).

I sell Pharmaceuticals to Doctors and have an 37,5 Hours regular Worktime each Week. My Wages is an Minimum of 3841 Euros an Month, Gratifications, Pension Fund, Christmas and Holiday Money, Provision extra. The Company gives me an Car for my Job, which i can use in Western Europe as much as i like for nothing.

Shipyard Workers will start lower, but if they are Engineer or responsible Groupleaders, Architects and so on, they earn more...


Posts: 1034 | From: Gutach, Black Forest, Germany | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
FunShipPete
First Class Passenger
Member # 3054

posted 06-24-2002 05:20 PM      Profile for FunShipPete   Email FunShipPete   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Dolphins:
During WWII, the U.S. constructed more ships than the rest of the world combined so to say we don't have the "know how" is balderdash.

Well said... the US doesn't seem to get a lot of press for building commercial ships, and though I'm not sure, I don't think that we in fact do. However, ever the militaristic nation that we are, we do build a great deal of military ships in the past and at present. And despite the fact that my interest is almost entirely in cruise ships, I can't deny the fact that probably the most intricate, hardest to design ships out there are warships. Furthermore, many maritime operators are here. The US certainly has its place on the oceans.


Posts: 16 | From: NJ | Registered: May 2002  |  IP: Logged
Britanis
First Class Passenger
Member # 2912

posted 06-25-2002 06:38 PM      Profile for Britanis   Email Britanis   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
True, BUT not being able to build a ship on time, on budget, and at a competitive price, and not having the skills and equipment needed to build all kinds of ships- not just warships- can be defined as backward. There is no question that the US does have the money, resources, and even the need to modernize and rebuild our shipbuilding industry, there just doesen't seem to be any interest in it.
Posts: 944 | From: Philadelphia, USA- former home of International Merchantile and Marine Co. | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
origo
First Class Passenger
Member # 1852

posted 06-30-2002 11:11 AM      Profile for origo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The cost for a carpenter in Finland is about 1700 USD a month to the carpenter and about 50 % to the government in tax. ( for sick insurance’s and so on ).

Yes, the US has built a lot of ships, most of all as someone said during the WW2 but that was 60 years ago.

To build a cruise ship has very little in common with building warships.

I’m sure that the US could learn how to build ( on time and within the budget ) but that takes a long time and who wants to pay for that? Not the cruise companies anyway.


Posts: 40 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged

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