AMO Currents - A West Coast tour and a call to conversation

AMO Currents - Posted: September 4, 2015

A West Coast tour and a call to conversation

By Paul Doell
National President

My first ship tour as national president of American Maritime Officers on the West Coast in August went smoothly, with lively and candid exchanges between seagoing AMO members and an administrative delegation that also included AMO National Vice President/Government Relations Mike Murphy, National Assistant Vice Presidents Christian Spain and Danny Shea and AMO Plans Executive Director Steve Nickerson.

I had visited many deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels in different capacities with AMO officials and representatives over many years, but that ended when I began serving as our union's legislative director in Washington DC in April 2007 - not many cargo vessel port calls along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers (although there were times when AMO members visiting the capital made rounds with me on Capitol Hill). So I looked forward to getting out of the headquarters office and talking with AMO members in Bremerton, Tacoma, Portland, San Francisco, Alameda, Los Angeles-Long Beach and San Diego.

With one exception, the AMO engine and deck officers we spoke with worked aboard vessels operated for Military Sealift Command - the large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships USNS Bob Hope, USNS Brittin and USNS Fisher and the Mobile Landing Platform USNS John Glenn - or aboard the diverse fleet of roll-on/roll-off, fast sealift and auxiliary crane ships that comprise the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Force.

No surprise, then, to find much of the conversation focused on the intricacies of federal government 'Requests for Proposals' (RFPs), the MSC shift from dependence on commercial merchant mariners for most military support services to greater reliance on civil service merchant marine officers and crews employed directly by the Navy agency, the MSC and MARAD budgets, the Defense Department's 'mobility study' as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review, and the 'tripartite agreement' concept under which AMO, the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association and the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots provide identical total labor costs to employers bidding for specific MSC and MARAD service contracts in response to RFPs (the tripartite approach had been conceived by the late AMO President Ray McKay).

But there was wide open, free flowing discussion with AMO members on other topics every bit as varied and compelling as the skills AMO engine and deck officers bring to their jobs each day.

In each vessel visit, the AMO members appeared comfortable with the administrative changes resulting from the AMO election in 2014 and pleased with my summary of the financial reforms adopted by this administration since January 2015. They were open to my comments on the merit of compromise on union policy and the incalculable value of honest disagreement among officials as a strong safeguard against complacency and the impulse to 'go along to get along.' AMO members asked me thoughtful, sometimes pointed questions, and many of them offered encouraging, supportive comments.

Murphy and Spain provided perhaps the most practical presentations along the way, supplementing their comments on defense shipping issues with clear and detailed reports on what is required of AMO members and seafaring professionals worldwide under increasingly complex and daunting domestic and international regulatory regimes. Merchant mariner credentials, medical certificates, 'gap training' and STCW compliance, and license renewal and upgrading were among the subjects.

Shea addressed collective bargaining issues and offered thorough, forthright answers to difficult questions about specific contracts and about the current and potential consequences of federal spending cuts for the Ready Reserve Force.

It would be inaccurate of me to report that Nickerson 'briefed' the ship officers on the state of AMO Plans, the benefit funds that serve all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and their families. He spoke in critical detail about each fund, tracked the continuing recovery of the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan and explained the funding method that drives the AMO Defined Contribution Plan. He spoke privately with individual AMO members who had personal questions, and he often contacted AMO Plans personnel in Dania Beach, directing them to address specific matters raised in these one-on-one talks.

As I noted earlier, we visited only one commercial ship - the Marjorie C, a new combination container-roll-on/roll-off ship built by VT Halter Marine in Mississippi and operated by Pasha Hawaii between California and Hawaii. The AMO members aboard appeared content in their fresh gigs and digs, and the agenda this time expanded briefly to include the Jones Act.

Signed into law as Section 27 of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act, the Jones Act holds all domestic waterborne commerce for merchant vessels built, owned, documented and crewed in the U.S. The law represents billions in private capital investment, sustains more than 500,000 private sector jobs in several industries and generates federal, state and local tax revenues.

Which brings me to what was a fitting end to the West Coast tour - the August 29 christening and launch of the Perla del Caribe by TOTE Shipholdings at the General Dynamics NASSCO yard in San Diego.

The Perla del Caribe joins the Isla Bella to complete TOTE's revolutionary Marlin class of dual-fueled containerships ordered for Jones Act service between Florida and Puerto Rico. The Isla Bella, which was undergoing sea trials when her sister ship was launched, will begin service this month as the first ship of its kind anywhere in the world to be fueled by liquefied natural gas; the Perla del Caribe is expected to join the Isla Bella early next year. Our next edition of American Maritime Officer will include complete coverage of the christening and launch of the Perla del Caribe.

Meanwhile, I encourage AMO members we missed on the West Coast - and all AMO members working elsewhere - to join the continuing conversation until we can arrange additional tours and meet aboard your deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels. I can be reached anytime for any reason at 954-921-2221, on the toll-free line at 800-362-0513, or on my cell at 954-881-5651.