RIVER PILOTS STRIKE

More than 70 towboat pilots pulled up to river banks and tied up their boats, but they didn't walk off, said Dickey Mathes, president of Pilots Agree, a newly formed and rapidly growing organization of inland riverboat pilots.

"Our pilots were conforming to U.S. Coast Guard safety regulations," said Mathes during an interview with the Southeast Missourian.

"We are not going to abandon ship," said Mathes. "Pilots will not leave their boats without relief."

Maritime law requires towboat captains to notify the Coast Guard if they're shutting down.

The Pilots Agree shutdown began at midnight Friday.

Nineteen of 179 towboat captains reported they were pulling ashore on the Mississippi River from St. Paul, Minn., to Cape Girardeau.

Coast Guard officials who are closely monitoring the situation, say more than 70 boats have tied up, from the mouth of the Mississippi River at New Orleans, to Iowa, including a few in this region.

A couple of boats were reported halted just north of Cape Girardeau, and two were tied up in Cairo, Ill.

A waterfront services spokesman at Cairo said three boats had shut down there early Saturday, but one left by noon.

"We're monitoring the ongoing work actions involving the towboat pilots and their operating companies," said CDR Keith Cameron, the Coast Guard captain of the port for the Paducah, Ky., area. "Our main concern is safety of the crews and of the environment."

Cameron added the Coast Guard is not involved with the issues between the groups, "but we will discuss safety issues with either party."

The Pilots Agree group called for a pilots strike, when towboat companies ignored an invitation to attend a meeting Friday to discuss safety and wages.

Mathes said invitations were sent to 98 towboat companies.

"Not one response was received," said Mathes. "We have spent months trying to raise a response for the companies in an attempt to have them address serious safety problems, environmental concerns and working conditions. "We came to talk, and now it's time to walk."

The walk-out called for all pilots and captains to tie off their boats, follow Coast Guard procedures to ensure absolute safety and wait for relief before leaving their post.

This will continue until companies agree to participate in collective bargaining with Pilots Agree.

In monitoring the safety situation, the Coast Guard at Paducah reported few dockings by pilots in the immediate area.

The Paducah offices keeps in touch with the Coast Guard at New Orleans.

"Lt. Matthews McGlynn, at New Orleans, is keeping the tabs on the situation nationwide." said Lt. Jim Marchese, of the Paducah office.

McGlynn said the midafternoon count showed about 70 boats stalled, "from the mouth of the river into Iowa to the north."

The board of Pilots Agree represents about a third of the nation's 3,000 river pilots and captains. Its members work on the Mississippi River, its tributaries, western rivers and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Many pilots kept working Saturday, and industry officials said the strike had little effect.

Ken Wells, of the American Waterways Operators, a national trade association for the towboat, tugboat and barge industry, told the Associated Press that delays and disruptions in commerce Saturday was only minimal.

"To our knowledge, very few people are participating in this work stoppage," he said.

Only nine pilots of more than 160 working for American Commercial Barge line joined the strike, according to company president Norb Whitlock. The company sent in relief pilots, and 85 of the company's boats were moving Saturday.

Some pilots didn't wait to reach a port before shutting down. A Coast Guard spokesman said the pilots pulled into the bank and were waiting for the companies to send another pilot.

It could be today or Monday before Pilots Agree has a firm handle on how many pilots joined the strike.

"We knew some pilots wouldn't join the strike," said Mathes, "but some are ready to strike as long as it takes."

Another Pilots Agree spokesman, Art Sasse, said the new group did not have a strike fund.

Mathes said Saturday the strike had shut down the New Orleans harbor and shut down fleets in Baton Rouge, La., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis.

McGlynn said, however, that towboats were still pushing barges in the New Orleans harbor.

Lt. Commander Patrick Gerrity, executive officer of the Coast Guard's marine safety office in St. Louis, said fewer than 10 percent of towboats in the 600 miles of river that his office patrols were participating in the shutdown Saturday.