AMO Currents - AMO gains from partnership between officials, members

AMO Currents - Posted: August 4, 2016

AMO gains from partnership between officials, members

By Paul Doell
National President

On August 1, American Maritime Officers was holding a high-six-figure, year-to-date operating budget surplus and a very healthy reserve account balance; moreover, our union is no longer pulling routinely from investment accounts to meet payroll and cover necessary expenses - indeed, AMO is replenishing these accounts with the first deposits in three years.

Meanwhile, AMO membership dues and initiation fee receipts remained on the rise - direct payments to AMO were substantially higher in the first six months of the calendar year over the same period in 2015; dues payments through authorized deductions from AMO Vacation Plan benefits were up as well - 29.9 percent in June alone, compared to the total paid through the Plan in June a year ago.

Meanwhile, a 2015 dues increase that had been approved in 2014 was rescinded, and no dues hike was necessary this year.

Our union's strong financial state and the real prospect of continued economic growth and stability resulted from what I see as an effective, practical partnership between this administration and the seagoing AMO membership.

On this side of the equation, the AMO National Executive Board last year agreed easily on a comprehensive cost containment plan that trimmed the union payroll significantly at all levels - even while restoring the official position of Great Lakes Vice President. This reform strategy also resulted in savings on essential goods and services, including a six-figure reduction in the annual cost of this publication.

When deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members saw responsible money management at union headquarters, they responded with a greater collective effort to make timely dues payments - not only to protect good standing, but also to sustain recovery for everyone's benefit.

The premise is an easy one: everything AMO officials, representatives and employees do in the course of their work is done with AMO membership money. When AMO members see fiscal reason and restraint in the administration, they have far fewer qualms about meeting their responsibilities.

At this point, we're able to beef up vessel visits on the East and West Coasts through two new full-time hires from within the membership ranks - without breaking the bank. On the West Coast, an additional representative is necessary because Dan Shea's new duties as National Executive Vice President make it difficult for him to hit ships routinely, and to recruit for our union at maritime academy functions; the East Coast has been without exclusive shipboard representation for some years, and, in my view, it's important that we cover this region consistently.

On behalf of the AMO National Executive Board, I welcome questions, comments and suggestions from AMO members everywhere as we work to keep the financial faith and to improve direct service to the men and women we are privileged to represent. Aboard ship, in union membership meetings, and in day-to-day conversation and correspondence, we're here to listen - and, with membership input, we can do even better.

Politics and AMO jobs

In this extremely important election year, I'm obliged to remind all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members to support the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund in the interest of job and benefit security.

The AMO VPAF helps shield the broad, bipartisan support base our industry has in Congress. The fund helps finance the re-election campaigns of Senators and members of the House of Representatives who understand the economic and national security need for a strong and diverse, privately owned and operated U.S. merchant fleet in domestic and international service - period. The fund doesn't cover travel, lodging, meals, entertainment or any other administrative expense.

Take the Jones Act, for example. The law was enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, and Congress has since insulated it from bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations and beaten back persistent homegrown efforts to force Jones Act amendment or repeal - most recently in legislation to ease the debt crisis in Puerto Rico.

Were it not for the Jones Act, foreign-flagged product tankers crewed by foreign nationals would meet today's expanding demand for the domestic waterborne transport of gasoline and other fuels. The U.S.-built tankers already delivered or under construction in the last 18 months for this trade and for operation under exclusive AMO contract wouldn't have been ordered.

Were it not for the Jones Act, AMO engine and deck officers would not be at work today on new U.S.-flag, U.S.-built container and combination container/roll-on, roll-off ships operating between the West Coast and Hawaii and between the East Coast and Puerto Rico, and our union would not be gearing up for the jobs on comparable ships now under construction for domestic service.

Were it not for the Jones Act, there wouldn't be a single American seagoing job along our inland waterways or in our ports, let alone the jobs AMO holds in these critical sectors. Nor would there be American seagoing jobs on the Great Lakes, where AMO remains the largest licensed labor influence.

Beyond Jones Act jurisdiction, jobs for U.S. merchant mariners - including AMO engine and deck officers - are sustained through the Maritime Security Program, the 50-percent U.S.-flag cargo preference requirement tied to PL-480 food aid exports and Military Sealift Command and Maritime Administration contracts awarded through fierce competitive bidding. But each of these programs is subject to annual budget authorization and appropriation in Congress and by debate driven often by powerful interests that believe the U.S. can do without its own merchant fleet, even in the context of national security and defense shipping.

But American Maritime Officers - long acknowledged as the most respected and most influential U.S. maritime policy advocate in Washington - leads the good fight each year, making a clear, compelling case for the American fleet and American seagoing jobs and capitalizing on unequaled access on Capitol Hill. The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is indispensable to the effort. On behalf of the AMO National Executive Board, I thank the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members who join us in routine support of the fund; AMO members who do not invest in this safe, reliable fund are encouraged to do so at levels they can be comfortable with - every dollar counts.