Finding some time to talk with Jona was not easy; as her dispatch work is constant, she is a busy woman. But the day we sat together, we were lucky and only got interrupted twice while we were talking. That is very unusual, Jona says, because normally, her phone is ringing or she is on the phone to employees from the time she comes in to office to the time she leaves. Even after she is gone, emails continue to be sent. She usually gets around 15 emails overnight and about 120 when she is gone for the weekend that she has to tend to when she comes back.
Jona is the Master, Mates and Pilots (MM&P) dispatch coordinator at Ferries. Together with two other dispatch coordinators and three crew dispatchers, Jona makes sure that all of the Washington State Ferries’ vessels are staffed to the required levels and ready to sail each morning, day and night. The crewing requirements depend on the vessel class and are outlined in United States Coast Guard (USCG) regulations and the language of the four applicable Collective Bargaining Agreements for licensed (Masters and Mates) and unlicensed (Able Body Seamen and Ordinary Seaman) Deck personnel, and licensed (Chief Engineers) and unlicensed (Oilers) Engine Room personnel. These contracts also line out the dispatching procedures that have to be followed.
The work in the dispatch department requires a lot of team effort and coordination seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day. While Jona’s special area of attention are the Master and Mates, she has to answer all the phones that come in and also cover shifts for the Engine Room and unlicensed Deck personnel. There is a big pressure on the dispatch crew to replace crew members as the vessels cannot sail if they are not fully crewed according to USCG and contract language rules.
When Jona started in dispatch in 1981, after being a secretary in the Terminal operations department for a year, the department looked and operated quite differently than today. Jona remembers the big board on the wall in the dispatch office, where one would find the names of all the boats in the top row and the different shifts in the column to the left. At the bottom was a wide array of magnetic name tags – one for each of the vessel and engine room employees! The staffing of the shifts was manually put onto the board in the respective row under the respective column. When people called in sick, their name tag was physically removed from the respective shift and replaced by the person’s who filled in for the vacancy. The calls were all tracked manually in a thick journal, one entry after the other.
When a new vessel class was added, the Jumbo Mark II, the biggest ferries in the fleet, the increase in shifts and required staff went beyond the scope of the wall board and dispatch had to look for another solution of dealing with the many shifts they had – and still have – to track on a daily basis. In 2000, an IT based tracking system was introduced and is still in use to date. This system allows each of the dispatchers to continue the work of a colleague. They can look up the watch hours and work location of each employee on the vessels. At a glance, they see what has been done or needs to be done to once again ensure ferries will sail.
Although stressful, Jona loves her job. She likes the daily, ever-changing challenges of filling planned and unplanned vacancies, and she loves talking to the people. Although she has not met many of them in person, after 20 years in dispatch, she feels and likes to think of the employees as her “ferry family” This personal rapport enriches her every day and makes the various challenges, such as short notice sick leaves or suddenly necessary boat moves that require a full extra crew to be put together within only hours, manageable. She lines the walls of her cubicle with ferry family pictures and likes to look at them when talking to each person.
To leave the office behind and wind down from a hectic day at work, Jona listens to audio books on her way home. She loves spending time with her son and goes for long walks with her dog, keeps in shape with swimming and exercising, and enjoys going camping. And maybe, one of these days, she will pick up a hobby of hers again: photography, including developing her own pictures. Just by the way – ferries always make a nice subject!
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