There's a small tempest brewing in the state ferry system.

Is Mike Anderson, who retired as director of Washington State Ferries in December, eligible for a lifetime ferry pass?

Union retirees and their spouses can ride the ferries for free for life. Since 2004, 219 passes have been issued to retirees and 142 to spouses, according to the state.

During much of his 34-year tenure with the ferry service, Anderson belonged to The Inlandboatmen's Union (IBU) but lost union status when he left his job as a terminal supervisor to become a manager.

Union officials with the Ferry Agents, Supervisors and Special Project Administrators Association (FASPAA), which represents terminal supervisors, say Anderson is entitled to the ferry pass.

But Anderson, who now works for an engineering firm, says he doesn't want one, didn't ask for one, didn't authorize the union to fight for one for him and probably wouldn't use one if he got it.

No one disputes that the free passes for retired managers are a negotiated contract benefit for FASPAA retirees, but when FASPAA wrote to Gov. Christine Gregoire to say Anderson was entitled to a ferry pass, it was denied by Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond.

Hammond said Anderson was involved in negotiating the FASPAA contract and she didn't think he should benefit from contract language he helped negotiate.

Anderson said he wasn't involved in negotiating the contract. That, he said, was done by labor-relations officials and although he was occasionally briefed on the contract talks, he didn't influence them.

Meanwhile, Dennis Conklin, head of the IBU, which represents the bulk of ferry workers, disputes FASPAA's claim that Anderson should get a free pass. He sent a letter to Gregoire asserting that Anderson doesn't deserve one.

Conklin said Anderson wasn't in any bargaining unit when he retired from the ferry system so he doesn't deserve a pass.

Anderson became a manager before FASPAA split off from the IBU in the late 1990s. Were Anderson still a terminal manager, he would have been automatically included in the new union.

"I am perplexed by the contention that Anderson was a member in good standing of FASPAA," Conklin said. "I do know that he never worked under a FASPAA contract because he held management positions since FASPAA's inception."

Anderson, who says he doesn't want to be in the middle of warring unions, said the whole issue is irrelevant because he never rides the ferries.