LeConte ferry (J Weber, Creative-Commons)
Two Alaska Marine Highway System shore positions in Haines and one in Skagway were cut in the most recent round of State Department of Transportation layoffs.
That’s according to DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow. He says between 20 and 30 shore positions were cut throughout Southeast.
Woodrow says the Skagway position and one of the Haines positions that was cut are multi-filled jobs. That means they could have consisted of multiple part-time or on-call employees. The other Haines position was a full-time job. Woodrow says he couldn’t give more specific information on how many people were affected by those cuts or what their job titles were.
The reductions to ferry terminal staff are part of DOT’s effort to deal with a $34 million dollar budget reduction.
Woodrow says DOT has tried to cut positions that are vacant before laying people off. He says he does not know of any other plans to cut shore jobs in the ferry system during this budget cycle.
