On Sunday, about 50 Alcatraz Cruises workers and organizers gathered at Pier 33. Photo by Yujie Zhou. Taken April 16, 2023.
Their hope? To pressure Alcatraz City Cruises to negotiate with them in good faith before the weather warms up and tourists come to San Francisco, according to the union. “The Alcatraz Cruises has been negotiating in bad faith with the union now for two years, 36 meetings,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Pier 33, where the Alcatraz ferries dock. “They are not taking this seriously.” “What this strike vote means is people are saying, ‘Hey, we’re upset.’ We want to stand together and we’re ready to fight,” said Evan McLaughlin, an organizer with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Alcatraz City Cruises has the concession from the National Park Service as the sole provider of ferry services to Alcatraz. If the strike does happen, trips to Alcatraz figure to be curtailed “unless the Alcatraz Cruises is able to find competent people to man their staff, their vessels,” said Peskin. And if they don’t do that, “there’s plenty of places for those tourists to go and spend their money and have a good time at Fisherman’s Wharf.