Posted:
August 9, 2011
By Tom Bethel
National President
As national president of American Maritime Officers, I am focused almost exclusively on keeping AMO members working in deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters trades - and I have enough sense to know there are no jobs when employers cannot remain competitive and keep their vessels operating profitably. I also know that mutual trust, steady communication between my administration and AMO employers and a real effort by our union to meet the employers' legitimate business needs are critical to long-term job and benefit security for AMO members everywhere.
The AMO membership's recognized reputation for professionalism and performance and my administration's commitment to building and maintaining positive, productive collective bargaining relationships serve central and substantial roles in our union's success. With the hard work and dedication of us all, it is a rare occasion when we face seemingly insurmountable challenges in arriving at rewarding agreements with AMO employers - challenges requiring our collective perseverance and every ounce of expertise at our disposal to overcome. Very rarely have circumstances arisen leading to the most extreme measure and last resort in contract negotiations. In fact, 31 years have passed since AMO's last strike on the Great Lakes.
That span ceased on July 31 at midnight when AMO's contract with American Steamship Company expired. The company had failed to accept our union's pattern agreement and had offered only one proposal in return - a proposal that was unacceptable to me, to AMO National Executive Vice President Bob Kiefer, to Great Lakes Special Assistant to the National President Don Cree, and to the 140 AMO members involved, 99 percent of whom voted against it.
Without another proposal from the company on the table, the AMO engineers, mates and stewards working for American Steamship Co. were forced to strike the company's active fleet of 14 bulk carriers. From the onset, AMO members conducted themselves with characteristic professionalism, ensuring the boats were secured to iron ore, coal and stone docks in various Great Lakes ports, where they had been anchored in the hours leading up to - and, in some cases, for many hours after - the expiration of the contract. When the AMO officers and stewards departed their vessels, many thought it might be for the last time.
This situation developed more than six months ago, when I offered American Steamship Co. an early start on negotiations leading to a successor agreement that would set the Great Lakes pattern (all collective bargaining agreements between AMO and Great Lakes bulk vessel operators were to expire on August 1).
American Steamship Co. did not accept this offer and did not explain why it had decided to pass on early bargaining. AMO later presented its contract proposal - modest but well deserved wage increases and continued participation in the AMO benefit funds at current levels over five years - to the remaining Great Lakes employers. Not one of these companies found our union's proposal to be excessive, unreasonable or unaffordable.
When American Steamship Co. agreed at long last to meet with AMO in mid-July, the negotiators from American Steamship and its parent company, GATX Corp., said they wanted to learn the mechanics of the AMO Plans - a peculiar request, considering that a well known American Steamship executive had at that point served for many years as an employer trustee of the AMO benefit funds.
AMO responded by bringing AMO Plans Executive Director Steve Nickerson, AMO Plans Finance Director John Macuski and representatives of the Plans' actuarial firm - Kevin Culp and Stan Goldfarb of Horizon Actuarial Services LLC - into the initial meeting in my office in Washington DC. All questions from GATX and American Steamship Co. were answered completely during the daylong discussion.
A week later, as August 1 approached, the GATX/American Steamship Co. negotiators met for three days in Philadelphia with Kiefer, Cree and Chris Holmes, our union's contract analyst. The GATX/American Steamship Co. delegation submitted a contract proposal that called for the immediate elimination of 14 stewards' jobs, the right to operate under COI manning at the company's discretion, and no funding of the AMO Medical, Pension and Safety and Education Plans.
After the company's proposal had been presented to and voted down by the AMO members working for American Steamship, AMO asked the company time and again to submit a final proposal for consideration by the fleet's engineers, mates and stewards. There was no response to this routine and reasonable request from our union before or after the August 1 deadline.
The AMO strike lasted four days, ending the evening of August 4 with an agreement between our union and the company to extend the lapsed AMO collective bargaining agreement through - at a minimum - the close of the 2011 Great Lakes shipping season. It also ended with confidence and commitment on both sides to reaching an agreement that ensures the long term job and benefit security of AMO members working for American Steamship while addressing the competitive needs of the company.
It has not drawn much notice outside of the Great Lakes region recently, but a strike against the company by United Steelworkers Local 5000 - which represents unlicensed crews on vessels acquired by American Steamship from the defunct Oglebay Norton Co. - entered its second year in July.
Although any strike is unfortunate, the conclusion of our comparatively brief action finds us, I believe, in solid footing to move forward in the process of securing a successor agreement with American Steamship Co./GATX. As the company's active fleet again gets underway and resumes service to its customers, we will be scheduling talks and engaging in negotiations toward a new contract without the constraint of a looming deadline.
This experience has caused me to reassess the way our union does business on the Great Lakes. Previous AMO administrations failed to acknowledge the developments that have transformed the Great Lakes shipping industry over the last 30 years - the rise of the "thousand footer," the consequent displacement of smaller vessels, the collapse of the basic steel industry that once sustained a fleet of more than 125 vessels, economic downturns that hit the industrial Midwest and the Great Lakes region especially hard. For too long, these AMO administrations acted as though nothing had changed in the Great Lakes shipping industry, when in fact conditions had changed dramatically and permanently.
While I cannot reverse poor policy decisions made 30, 20 or 10 years ago, I can promise everyone in our union and every AMO employer on the Great Lakes a new day and a new way.
I value the professional relationships American Maritime Officers has had with these employers for many years. They recognize the hard work and the dedication each AMO engineer, mate and steward brings to the job each day on each vessel. I will be in touch with these employers over the next several weeks - we have much to discuss in the wake of August's first week.
Meanwhile, I thank the AMO engineers, mates and stewards who stood fast in support of one another and our union during this crisis. The channels of communication remain wide open and all involved will be kept apprised of every significant development in this process.
AMO and American Steamship Company: a strike our union did not want, an agreement within reach
By Tom Bethel
National President
As national president of American Maritime Officers, I am focused almost exclusively on keeping AMO members working in deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters trades - and I have enough sense to know there are no jobs when employers cannot remain competitive and keep their vessels operating profitably. I also know that mutual trust, steady communication between my administration and AMO employers and a real effort by our union to meet the employers' legitimate business needs are critical to long-term job and benefit security for AMO members everywhere.
The AMO membership's recognized reputation for professionalism and performance and my administration's commitment to building and maintaining positive, productive collective bargaining relationships serve central and substantial roles in our union's success. With the hard work and dedication of us all, it is a rare occasion when we face seemingly insurmountable challenges in arriving at rewarding agreements with AMO employers - challenges requiring our collective perseverance and every ounce of expertise at our disposal to overcome. Very rarely have circumstances arisen leading to the most extreme measure and last resort in contract negotiations. In fact, 31 years have passed since AMO's last strike on the Great Lakes.
That span ceased on July 31 at midnight when AMO's contract with American Steamship Company expired. The company had failed to accept our union's pattern agreement and had offered only one proposal in return - a proposal that was unacceptable to me, to AMO National Executive Vice President Bob Kiefer, to Great Lakes Special Assistant to the National President Don Cree, and to the 140 AMO members involved, 99 percent of whom voted against it.
Without another proposal from the company on the table, the AMO engineers, mates and stewards working for American Steamship Co. were forced to strike the company's active fleet of 14 bulk carriers. From the onset, AMO members conducted themselves with characteristic professionalism, ensuring the boats were secured to iron ore, coal and stone docks in various Great Lakes ports, where they had been anchored in the hours leading up to - and, in some cases, for many hours after - the expiration of the contract. When the AMO officers and stewards departed their vessels, many thought it might be for the last time.
This situation developed more than six months ago, when I offered American Steamship Co. an early start on negotiations leading to a successor agreement that would set the Great Lakes pattern (all collective bargaining agreements between AMO and Great Lakes bulk vessel operators were to expire on August 1).
American Steamship Co. did not accept this offer and did not explain why it had decided to pass on early bargaining. AMO later presented its contract proposal - modest but well deserved wage increases and continued participation in the AMO benefit funds at current levels over five years - to the remaining Great Lakes employers. Not one of these companies found our union's proposal to be excessive, unreasonable or unaffordable.
When American Steamship Co. agreed at long last to meet with AMO in mid-July, the negotiators from American Steamship and its parent company, GATX Corp., said they wanted to learn the mechanics of the AMO Plans - a peculiar request, considering that a well known American Steamship executive had at that point served for many years as an employer trustee of the AMO benefit funds.
AMO responded by bringing AMO Plans Executive Director Steve Nickerson, AMO Plans Finance Director John Macuski and representatives of the Plans' actuarial firm - Kevin Culp and Stan Goldfarb of Horizon Actuarial Services LLC - into the initial meeting in my office in Washington DC. All questions from GATX and American Steamship Co. were answered completely during the daylong discussion.
A week later, as August 1 approached, the GATX/American Steamship Co. negotiators met for three days in Philadelphia with Kiefer, Cree and Chris Holmes, our union's contract analyst. The GATX/American Steamship Co. delegation submitted a contract proposal that called for the immediate elimination of 14 stewards' jobs, the right to operate under COI manning at the company's discretion, and no funding of the AMO Medical, Pension and Safety and Education Plans.
After the company's proposal had been presented to and voted down by the AMO members working for American Steamship, AMO asked the company time and again to submit a final proposal for consideration by the fleet's engineers, mates and stewards. There was no response to this routine and reasonable request from our union before or after the August 1 deadline.
The AMO strike lasted four days, ending the evening of August 4 with an agreement between our union and the company to extend the lapsed AMO collective bargaining agreement through - at a minimum - the close of the 2011 Great Lakes shipping season. It also ended with confidence and commitment on both sides to reaching an agreement that ensures the long term job and benefit security of AMO members working for American Steamship while addressing the competitive needs of the company.
It has not drawn much notice outside of the Great Lakes region recently, but a strike against the company by United Steelworkers Local 5000 - which represents unlicensed crews on vessels acquired by American Steamship from the defunct Oglebay Norton Co. - entered its second year in July.
Although any strike is unfortunate, the conclusion of our comparatively brief action finds us, I believe, in solid footing to move forward in the process of securing a successor agreement with American Steamship Co./GATX. As the company's active fleet again gets underway and resumes service to its customers, we will be scheduling talks and engaging in negotiations toward a new contract without the constraint of a looming deadline.
This experience has caused me to reassess the way our union does business on the Great Lakes. Previous AMO administrations failed to acknowledge the developments that have transformed the Great Lakes shipping industry over the last 30 years - the rise of the "thousand footer," the consequent displacement of smaller vessels, the collapse of the basic steel industry that once sustained a fleet of more than 125 vessels, economic downturns that hit the industrial Midwest and the Great Lakes region especially hard. For too long, these AMO administrations acted as though nothing had changed in the Great Lakes shipping industry, when in fact conditions had changed dramatically and permanently.
While I cannot reverse poor policy decisions made 30, 20 or 10 years ago, I can promise everyone in our union and every AMO employer on the Great Lakes a new day and a new way.
I value the professional relationships American Maritime Officers has had with these employers for many years. They recognize the hard work and the dedication each AMO engineer, mate and steward brings to the job each day on each vessel. I will be in touch with these employers over the next several weeks - we have much to discuss in the wake of August's first week.
Meanwhile, I thank the AMO engineers, mates and stewards who stood fast in support of one another and our union during this crisis. The channels of communication remain wide open and all involved will be kept apprised of every significant development in this process.