The Steamship Authority board of governors voted this week to tie upcoming salary increases for its 100 or so non-union staffers to the weighted average of pay raises for unionized workers.

Select board chair Gail Barmakian invited Robert Davis to the board’s Tuesday meeting after Oak Bluffs wasn’t notified about the potential of 41 North Offshore using the Steamship’s Oak Bluffs terminal to ship freight and heavy equipment to and from New Bedford.

The rocky start to summer is emblematic of the Steamship Authority’s staffing woes, several Steamship employees said, and on any given day ferries can be one sick-day away from being tied up at the docks.

The Steamship Authority Tuesday said it is dropping the Sankaty's three daily weekday round trips on the Vineyard route amid a shortage of qualified crew members.

An industry-wide shortage of maritime workers is hampering the Steamship Authority’s ability to recruit enough crew members for the upcoming season.