Alum pushes for higher wages after some beaches unguarded; resort says it will be fully staffed in 2023, notes multiple issues
OCEAN CITY — $13.68, $19.38, $15 and $12.80.
That’s a random sample of hourly pay for rookie guards on different beach patrols in the South Jersey Lifeguard Chiefs Association.
The lowest of the four is what Ocean City pays.
Getting lifeguards to staff beaches across southern New Jersey is getting increasingly difficult. Pay isn’t the only factor, but it is a factor.
Other businesses at the shore pay more for jobs with far less responsibility; lifeguards have to be trained in lifesaving techniques and spend full days ensuring the safety of the hundreds of thousands of visitors enjoying the ocean.
First-year guards in Ventnor City earned $13.68 an hour this past summer. In Avalon, the guards earned $19.38. In Cape May, the rookie guards were being paid $13, but the city boosted the first-year pay to $15 over the summer.
Ocean City paid $12.80 an hour. That rate was the rookie pay in the fourth year of a four-year contract.
The resort had additional tryouts during the summer to recruit more guards, including one late aiming to get guards for next summer.
The low pay aggravated an Ocean City Beach Patrol alum so much that he spent time handing out fliers to people on the boardwalk, hoping to get them to put pressure on the mayor and the city to do something as the city goes into negotiations for a new contract for next year.
Jimmy Sullivan said he knew something was wrong when he saw unprotected beaches for the last two weeks of August. It wasn’t the same as when he was on the beach patrol in the 1970s.
Sullivan, who loved being a lifeguard in the resort, actually negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement for Ocean City Beach Patrol guards during his last year on the patrol in 1978, which also was after his first year at Georgetown Law School.
He believes the city erred by sticking to the contract this summer when officials knew there was a shortage of guards.
“The thing that bothers me is they could have unilaterally raised the rates,” Sullivan said, but the city didn’t. He winters in Florida but summers in Ocean City, having bought a home on Park Place in 2019. He was at the annual lifeguard reunion this summer and spent time talking to current guards.
“They’re so angry at their pay rates, especially for the younger guards. They’re not willing” to work the full summer, he said. Their contract allows them to quit after 35 days of work and still be eligible for step increases and able to return the following summer, he said.
“You knew you have a problem when you had three tryouts. You knew you had a problem when the guards themselves were saying they were going to leave after the 35-day minimum,” Sullivan said.
“Why is it you couldn’t come up with some kind of game plan for the end of this summer? Don’t tell me kids are back in college. That happens every summer. The real problem is you weren’t willing to work with the lifeguard association to provide some cash as an incentive to keep these guys on,” he said.
“If you called for a policeman or firefighter and they said, ‘We’re a little short at the end of the season,’ no one would accept that. I think they should have acted unilaterally to address their recruitment and retention and acted with some interim measures to get guards on the beach,” he said.
“You’re charging all these taxes, you’re selling all these beach tags — which will probably go up next year — and you’re paying these meager wages to these lifeguards,” Sullivan said, adding he couldn’t sit idly by and watch what was going on.
“When you started to see how you couldn’t recruit, you could have gone to the union and said, ‘We’re going to raise rates because we’re not competitive with other beach patrols.’”
Although it was more than 40 years ago, Sullivan said he took pride in being a lifeguard.
“One of the best things I did in my life was working on the beach patrol,” he said.
“Your responsibility, at least until Labor Day, is to have as many protected beaches as you can for the guests and the residents. We have vested interest in how our taxes are spent. People come here primarily for the beach, then the boardwalk and maybe third, Asbury Avenue. If you don’t protect the beaches and you don’t protect the bathers, you’re just not doing your job. People are disgusted by it,” Sullivan said.
“I wouldn’t spend my free time (raising awareness) if I didn’t feel it had some chance of motivating them to make this beach patrol somewhat what it used to be, which was the pride of the whole South Jersey coast.”
The contract
From 2019 to 2022, the hourly pay for a rookie guard increased from $12.12 to $12.80. A guard with 2 to 3 years on the patrol earned $13.33 in 2022; with 4 to 5 years, $14.11; with 6 to 7 years, $14.83; with 8-9 years, $16.12; with 10 to 12 years, $17.51; 13 to 15, $19.14; and 16 or more, $19.92 — just above what Avalon was paying to first-year guards.
A first-year EMT earned $13.45 in 2022, increasing to $14.25 for two years, $15.04 for three years, $15.81 for four years and $16.72 for five years. After their fifth year, they went on the lifeguard scale with 10-12 years.
All lifeguards who worked their 35 days during the season received a stipend for remaining on staff from Aug. 15 through Labor Day. Last summer, each day they worked in that period they got an additional $17.93.
City: Pay is not the only factor
After the Sentinel posed questions to the administration about lifeguard retention and contracts, it responded, via public information officer Doug Bergen, that pay was not the only factor in attracting guards.
“Pay rate is one factor, and that is perhaps the easiest to rectify,” the administration said.
It also cited the lack of affordable seasonal housing, which prevents recruiting candidates who don’t have homes in the area.
“Traditionally, OCBP was able to recruit from a much wider region, because guards could afford to rent a place and still go home at the end of the summer with some savings in their pocket,” the administration said.
A similar response came from representatives of other beach patrols in the shore towns where lack of inexpensive summer housing limits much of the recruiting to potential guards with family living in the area.
The administration also noted the job requires strong swimming ability and peak fitness and that many student athletes have to train with their club teams and at camps during the summer, both limiting the pool of candidates.
“A good number of potential returning guards took advantage of internships that were delayed by COVID,” the administration said, and, “a surprising number of kids — with the blessings of their parents — just don’t want to work five days a week. It’s a trend that extends beyond the beach patrol.”
The administration pointed out an August tryout “locked down” 15 new guards for next summer, about half of which weren’t old enough to work on the beach patrol this past summer. There also will be the regular tryout next June for summer 2023.
Through Bergen, the administration said “the city will negotiate in good faith on a new collective bargaining agreement that is fair to both Ocean City Beach Patrol members and taxpayers … and is competitive with other beach patrols.”
The administration said it did not expect staffing shortages next summer.
“The OCBP will celebrate its 125th anniversary next summer, and we’re proud of the patrol’s impeccable record in protecting the safety of our bathers. We want to make sure we continue to hire only the most qualified candidates, and we anticipate being fully staffed.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff