Many unionized Port Canaveral employees will receive sizable pay increases starting Oct. 1, under a new contract approved by workers and Canaveral Port Authority commissioners. 

The contract covers 91 of the port's 205 employees who are members of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 525 .

Among the workers covered by the new agreement are crane operators, crane technicians, cruise operations associates, landscape technicians and supply clerks.

Increases are as high as 50% for line handling associates help secure and remove a ship’s dock lines at the port. Those employees now will make $19.50 an hour, up from a previous minimum of $13 an hour. Most other job categories will see raises of 25% or more, when comparing the new hourly pay with the old rates for that job category.

Improving finances:Port Canaveral expects record revenue, strong profits for next budget year

Union seeks pay raises:Port Canaveral union seeks changes in how negotiations take place, after port CEO gets 36% raise

"It's a pretty significant increase," Local 525 President Kevin Smith said. "It leveled the paying field" with union workers at other major local public-sector employers.

Smith said the new contract brings the pay levels of union members at the port more in line with those working similar jobs at nearby Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

In the past, Smith said, port management was hesitant to match the pay of unionized port employees with those working at other government entities.

But Smith said the port seemed to have a different viewpoint after Smith brought up the Port Authority's decision in December to increase the annual salary of Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray by 36% — from $374,920 to $510,000.

Murray's raise was approved by a 3-2 vote, with supporters of the raise citing as among the justifications a consultant's report that compared Murray's salary at the time of $374,920 to higher salaries for top executives of other ports.

Voting in favor of Murray's raise were Port Authority Chairman Jerry Allender, Vice Chairman Kevin Markey and Commissioner Micah Loyd.

Voting against the raise were Secretary/Treasurer Robyn Hattaway and Commissioner Wayne Justice. They both supported giving a raise to Murray, but felt the proposal that was approved was excessive.

These are the current minimum hourly pay for Transport Workers Union members working at Port Canaveral, along with the new hourly pay that will take effect on Oct. 1, and the percent increase:

Port commissioners unanimously approved the change in the union pay rates on Aug. 17, after it was unanimously approved two days earlier by union members.

Previously, the port's union workers in a particular job title could receive a range of hourly pay amounts.

Amanda Brailsford-Urbina, the port's vice president of human resources, recreation and customer experience, told port commissioners that the union "preferred to have a standard pay for everybody in a certain position," rather than a minimum pay and a maximum pay.

Union negotiators "said this is very important. This is what they wanted as a structure," Brailsford-Urbina recounted. "This is very typical in a lot of union contracts."

Previously, Smith noted, if there were two line handlers working on securing a ship at a cruise terminal, "the guy at the other end of the rope might be getting $4 more an hour than you."

The union's current three-year contract runs from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2024. But a provision in the contract allowed for a "wage reopener" in 2022, enabling negotiated pay raises this year.

Port Canaveral has not yet announced its plan for pay increases for its nonunion employees for the upcoming budget year that begins Oct. 1.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

Support local journalism and journalists like me. Subscribe today.