Posted:
December 23, 2008
By Tom Bethel
National President
Ballots are circulating in the 90-day referendum in which all members of American Maritime Officers are asked to ratify or reject proposed amendments to the AMO National Constitution. The National Executive Board of AMO approved the amendments during the board’s quarterly meeting in October 2008.
Many of the proposed amendments would eliminate archaic language or apply “plain English” for easier comprehension (if lawyers had written the 10 Commandments, even the most intelligent of people would still be struggling to understand these simple precepts). But other amendments would bring substantial, positive change to AMO policy and administration.
For example, one series of amendments would change the way we as AMO members vote in union elections and referendums, thereby enhancing participatory democracy as an AMO hallmark.
Under these amendments, the balloting period in each election or referendum would be extended permanently from 60 days to 90 days. This would provide all AMO members with additional time to qualify to vote, and to receive, complete and return their ballots.
Moreover, ballots would no longer be sent routinely to AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members aboard their vessels through what we know from experience to be unreliable channels. Each AMO member would be responsible for having a current and accurate mailing address on file at AMO headquarters for the ballot distribution database, just as each AMO member is now responsible for the timely and direct payment of AMO membership dues and the maintenance of AMO membership in good standing. AMO members who want ballots mailed to vessels or to addresses other than those on file at headquarters would still have this option under an amended AMO National Constitution, but these AMO members would have to coordinate ballot delivery with True Ballot Inc., the independent firm retained by our union in 2007 to administer all AMO elections and referendums.
But the most significant amendments would reduce the size of the AMO National Executive Board from 14 elected members to seven elected members. Beginning with the new terms of office in January 2011, the national executive board of AMO would be limited to the national president, national secretary-treasurer, national executive vice president and four vice presidents (one each for the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters sectors and one for government relations). Individuals now serving as national assistant vice presidents or as national executive board members could run for other positions in the AMO election in 2010, or they could stay on as appointed representatives.
This proposed reorganization of the AMO National Executive Board would result in greater operating efficiency — a better way to make policy decisions quickly and responsibly in a fluid, fast and often harsh competitive environment. Having to pin down 14 busy individuals to sign off on a policy initiative agreed to by senior officials is not conducive to peak performance in the interest of job and benefit security for all AMO members and their families.
Another result would be reduced administrative overhead and savings to the AMO treasury — an increasingly important consideration under current and anticipated economic conditions.
Perhaps the most important reason to reduce the number of elected officials in American Maritime Officers is to put performance over politics in those positions most closely associated with service to the membership aboard vessels, at AMO headquarters and in the port offices.
It became apparent to me early in my 25 years ashore with AMO that individuals holding some elective positions were too often not the most ambitious, the most dedicated, the most driven or the most productive people on our union’s payroll.
These individuals — all with strong ties to previous AMO presidents — grew lazy and complacent, content to know that their jobs were secure for at least the length of their terms in office. They idled on their duffs — or on the golf course — for years at a time, instead of visiting vessels, taking or returning phone calls and tending to the professional needs of the AMO membership. They were accountable only to other officials — specifically, their patrons in the top positions.
The risk of this situation arising again would be minimized significantly under an elected AMO administration of limited size. The national president — regardless of who that is in January 2011 and beyond — would be free to terminate unmotivated, unproductive representatives who do not, will not or cannot provide the seagoing AMO membership with effective representation, just as the national president of AMO now has the authority to dismiss non-elected AMO employees who do not earn their keep.
This would result in greater administrative accountability to the AMO rank and file — individuals responsible for direct daily contact with deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members would be accountable directly to the elected seven-member National Executive Board of AMO, which would in turn be accountable directly to the seagoing membership.
Our proposal to trim the National Executive Board would not lead to less service to AMO members — at least not while I am national president of our union. The men now serving as national assistant vice president and as national executive board members do their jobs well, putting in a lot of time, energy and inspiration — it can be said fairly that the membership representation provided by these individuals since January 2007 is far superior to what AMO members had become accustomed to over far too long a time. I, for one, want these individuals to remain in service to our union.
In its first 11 years, American Maritime Officers was governed only by four elected full-time officials and three rank and file executive board members who remained at work at sea. These seven men secured the first-ever retirement and health care benefits for U.S. merchant marine officers and oversaw unprecedented growth in union membership and the seagoing job base.
We, too, can do more with less.
Constitutional amendments: doing more with less
By Tom Bethel
National President
Ballots are circulating in the 90-day referendum in which all members of American Maritime Officers are asked to ratify or reject proposed amendments to the AMO National Constitution. The National Executive Board of AMO approved the amendments during the board’s quarterly meeting in October 2008.
Many of the proposed amendments would eliminate archaic language or apply “plain English” for easier comprehension (if lawyers had written the 10 Commandments, even the most intelligent of people would still be struggling to understand these simple precepts). But other amendments would bring substantial, positive change to AMO policy and administration.
For example, one series of amendments would change the way we as AMO members vote in union elections and referendums, thereby enhancing participatory democracy as an AMO hallmark.
Under these amendments, the balloting period in each election or referendum would be extended permanently from 60 days to 90 days. This would provide all AMO members with additional time to qualify to vote, and to receive, complete and return their ballots.
Moreover, ballots would no longer be sent routinely to AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members aboard their vessels through what we know from experience to be unreliable channels. Each AMO member would be responsible for having a current and accurate mailing address on file at AMO headquarters for the ballot distribution database, just as each AMO member is now responsible for the timely and direct payment of AMO membership dues and the maintenance of AMO membership in good standing. AMO members who want ballots mailed to vessels or to addresses other than those on file at headquarters would still have this option under an amended AMO National Constitution, but these AMO members would have to coordinate ballot delivery with True Ballot Inc., the independent firm retained by our union in 2007 to administer all AMO elections and referendums.
But the most significant amendments would reduce the size of the AMO National Executive Board from 14 elected members to seven elected members. Beginning with the new terms of office in January 2011, the national executive board of AMO would be limited to the national president, national secretary-treasurer, national executive vice president and four vice presidents (one each for the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters sectors and one for government relations). Individuals now serving as national assistant vice presidents or as national executive board members could run for other positions in the AMO election in 2010, or they could stay on as appointed representatives.
This proposed reorganization of the AMO National Executive Board would result in greater operating efficiency — a better way to make policy decisions quickly and responsibly in a fluid, fast and often harsh competitive environment. Having to pin down 14 busy individuals to sign off on a policy initiative agreed to by senior officials is not conducive to peak performance in the interest of job and benefit security for all AMO members and their families.
Another result would be reduced administrative overhead and savings to the AMO treasury — an increasingly important consideration under current and anticipated economic conditions.
Perhaps the most important reason to reduce the number of elected officials in American Maritime Officers is to put performance over politics in those positions most closely associated with service to the membership aboard vessels, at AMO headquarters and in the port offices.
It became apparent to me early in my 25 years ashore with AMO that individuals holding some elective positions were too often not the most ambitious, the most dedicated, the most driven or the most productive people on our union’s payroll.
These individuals — all with strong ties to previous AMO presidents — grew lazy and complacent, content to know that their jobs were secure for at least the length of their terms in office. They idled on their duffs — or on the golf course — for years at a time, instead of visiting vessels, taking or returning phone calls and tending to the professional needs of the AMO membership. They were accountable only to other officials — specifically, their patrons in the top positions.
The risk of this situation arising again would be minimized significantly under an elected AMO administration of limited size. The national president — regardless of who that is in January 2011 and beyond — would be free to terminate unmotivated, unproductive representatives who do not, will not or cannot provide the seagoing AMO membership with effective representation, just as the national president of AMO now has the authority to dismiss non-elected AMO employees who do not earn their keep.
This would result in greater administrative accountability to the AMO rank and file — individuals responsible for direct daily contact with deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members would be accountable directly to the elected seven-member National Executive Board of AMO, which would in turn be accountable directly to the seagoing membership.
Our proposal to trim the National Executive Board would not lead to less service to AMO members — at least not while I am national president of our union. The men now serving as national assistant vice president and as national executive board members do their jobs well, putting in a lot of time, energy and inspiration — it can be said fairly that the membership representation provided by these individuals since January 2007 is far superior to what AMO members had become accustomed to over far too long a time. I, for one, want these individuals to remain in service to our union.
In its first 11 years, American Maritime Officers was governed only by four elected full-time officials and three rank and file executive board members who remained at work at sea. These seven men secured the first-ever retirement and health care benefits for U.S. merchant marine officers and oversaw unprecedented growth in union membership and the seagoing job base.
We, too, can do more with less.