Disappointed and Angry

Once again, noroviruses such as Norwalk have reared their ugly head. Once again, we’ve dealt with it with little or no prior knowledge. You may recall, a while back I wrote an editorial regarding my perception of our value as seen through the eyes of the company. Needless to say, it raised the ire of our then General Manager, David Gudgel, who wrote a rebuff to the editorial.

Well, fast forward to now and here we are again. In the Companies defense, Dave Gudgel is no longer here, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of communication for me. I personally have never met Mr. Ben Atherly. I’m told he is a very nice gentleman, with his heart in the right place. I’m also told he runs the Worldwide Shore Services division for Holland America. I have no knowledge of how their systems work, but it would seem logical that Worldwide Shore Services would be in communication with the ships it handles, prior to their arrival in port. Additionally, there are defined parameters set by the Center for Disease Control that dictate when a ship must notify CDC of infection.

What I’m getting at is how can this Company not know of infection prior to any coach arriving at the pier to deal with disembarking passengers? As the Company begs, pleads, and steals your personal life to have you work the pier, wouldn’t you think it would be in its best interest to keep you healthy? So imagine if you’re like me, you perspire profusely while hefting baggage that weighs half as much as you do. Therefore, you’re constantly wiping sweat from your face and eyes, all the while handling luggage of unknown individuals, further handled by countless numbers of ship and dock staff, unaware of any threat to your health.

According to the website for the CDC, noroviruses can be avoided, provided you are aware of its presence and follow some relatively simple safety procedures. Chairman Schneider has addressed Noroviruses and their cleanup procedures via letter with the Company. Let us hope the Company takes this seriously. And let us further hope that in the future, the presence of an infected ship in port will result in a bold warning prevalently posted in the drivers’ room alerting all to the threat and proper steps to be taken to avoid it.

Brian Donald