FEWER TOWS IDLED BY STRIKING PILOTS

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The shipping situation on the Mississippi River and Gulf Inter-Coastal Waterways is changing as a strike by some towboat pilots entered its fourth day today.

Widespread effects of the strike have been difficult to gauge, said U.S. Coast Guard officials, who are keeping tabs on the strike for safety reasons.

Most shipping companies and ports describe their operations as mostly normal. However, longshoremen refused to cross the pilots' picket lines at one New Orleans wharf.

Tom Tarrants of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Paducah, Ky., said there were no waterway closures, no hazards to navigation, and no violence associated with the strike reported.

Pilots Agree, which represents about 1,000 of the 3,000 towboat pilots that work the Mississippi, its major tributaries and other waterways, called a strike late Friday after 98 towboat and barge companies refused to negotiate with the union.

The strike's impact could compound itself if the International Longshoreman's Association, whose members unload ships and barges, refuse to cross the picket lines everywhere. A decision on whether the ILA can legally honor the Pilots Agree picket lines is expected today.

The number of towboats shut down as a result of the strike dwindled Monday. The Coast Guard counted 56 towboats idled along the Mississippi after pilots called their companies and asked for relief. About 90 towboats were sidelined over the weekend.

Tarrants issued a count late Sunday of 71 towboats idled, including six in the Paducah area and two in the Cape Girardeau area.

That list was updated Monday afternoon.

"We only have two towboat operations -- one of them with 42 barges -- left in the Paducah district," said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Ken Hollowell."

One of the idled operations was at Cairo, Ill., and the second just south of Cairo.

The bulk of the Sunday list of 71 boats were in the New Orleans area, where 33 boats were idled, said Tarrants.

The St. Louis District Coast Guard office reported 19 shutdowns from Cape Girardeau to points north along the Mississippi River, and the Memphis District Coast Guard reported nine shutdowns in its area of responsibility.

Five towboats were idled Saturday at Nashville, Tenn., but all five received relief pilots and started moving.

Coast Guard official said the striking pilots had been professional. They notified the Coast Guard when they stopped and explained why they were stopping, said a St. Louis Coast Guard spokesman.

"Our main thing is to make sure the boats have licensed pilots on board at all times," said Hollowell. "We're concerned with safety."

Pilots Agree wants the average salary of its members -- currently about $50,000 per year -- doubled.

"We knew that some pilots wouldn't join the strike," said Pilots Agree President Dickey Mathes of Lake Village, Ark.

Pilots Agree, a new union, does not have a strike fund.