S2174 would give Boston pilots their first raise in over 10 years.

Introducing a bill to give a pilotage association a raise—especially in today’s economy—is guaranteed to rally serious opposition.

S2174, the Pilot Rate Board Bill, sits on the desk of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. He has a ten day period to sign it or else it dies. The bill would give Boston pilots a 11.25% raise, their first increase in over 10 years. They work in some of the toughest weather and operating conditions in the country but remain underpaid by industry standards.

The increase has been debated for several years but the opposition has succeeded in blocking it until now.

Moreover, while shipping traffic has dropped by up to 20 percent in many ports, the volume in Boston has remained steady. The creation of the Rate Board will help keep the state’s ports properly funded into the future as rates will be reviewed annually. Moreover, pilot candidates with military service will be considered for employment.

Another group with a long overdue wage increase is the Long Island Sound pilots, who had to wait 25 years before Connecticut agreed to give them a series of modest increases.

Several years ago, Louisiana officials attempted to bring pilot trainees into Lake Charles to handle the fast growing liquefied natural gas tanker trade. The new pilots were to be imported from India and paid approximately $70,000, not even one quarter of the prevailing salary. Forcing the veteran pilots to train them added salt to the wound. The local pilot association successfully mobilized against this attempt to undercut their wages.

According to some, pilots have bloated salaries for being essentially ship valet parkers.

This uninformed line of thought is as wrong as considering an airline pilot to be nothing more than a glorified simulator operator.

Pilots are responsible for safely guiding ships anywhere from 500 gross tons to supertankers in and out of port. It is a job that demands independent and quick thinking and detailed knowledge of the traffic, depth and currents of the local area. The testing to become a pilot is demanding; literally hundreds of channel buoy markers must be memorized on numerous charts.

Each pilot walks into a completely different environment on each transit. Every ship handles differently because of various currents, tides, horsepower, rudders and thrusters.

They are responsible for preventing damage to the port infrastructure while docking and preventing collisions that could cause explosion or disastrous oil spills.

Many pilotage associations require new hires to have prior years of service as a Master and to serve up to two years as a trainee pilot on a stipend before being given permanent status.