Join us to hear Ann Irish as she talks about the ferry system and how “It Could Be Worse”. From the 1930s to the 1980s, our ferry system faced employee strikes and even a lockout by management; in all, eleven work stoppages. Some strikes lasted just a few days, but the longest went on for more than a month. What were the issues? Which ferry runs were impacted? How did islanders feel about the work stoppages? In 1948, relations between workers and management became so bad that Vashon Islanders ran their ferries themselves for three years. But strikes continued, the final one for three days in 1981.