Posted:
December 9, 2019
By Paul Doell
National President
American Maritime Officers has much to celebrate in this holiday season. In 2019, we expanded our job base, enhanced our reputation for superior service under government contract and in commercial markets, dominated domestic tanker and dry cargo trades, sustained sound management of AMO assets, made real progress on retirement security for all AMO members and continued to promote real reform on several administrative fronts, from collective bargaining to honest conversation between AMO personnel and the seagoing AMO membership.
We saw our union's deep-sea fleet grow with the deliveries of the LNG-fueled combination container/roll-on, roll-off ship Taíno (Crowley); the TOTE-operated car carriers ARC Resolve, ARC Integrity and ARC Independence (American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier); the reflagged multipurpose ship M/V Maj. Richard Winters (Sealift Inc.); and the Maersk Valencia.
In addition, Military Sealift Command renewed its contract with Ocean Ships for the USNS Montford Point and USNS John Glenn.
By December 1, AMO fleets on the Great Lakes were wrapping up a busy, very productive shipping season, and our tug fleets held all year to long-set tradition with safe, smooth domestic services.
All of the jobs referred to here represent new or continuing employer contributions to AMO Plans, the benefit funds that serve all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and their families.
In an especially important separate development, AMO members reinforced our union's status as the principal source of engine and deck officers for defense shipping services in September when U.S. Transportation Command in the Department of Defense ordered up the "turbo activation" of 28 Ready Reserve Force and Military Sealift Command surge sealift ships. AMO filled the licensed jobs on 22 of these vessels, and they excelled at every level. The ships were underway safely and on time in this important exercise, with no operational setbacks.
TRANSCOM, the Maritime Administration and MSC were pleased with the results, which demonstrated that the RRF and MSC surge ships are in good professional hands, and that these vessels can meet their missions.
"By the end of the first day, about 80 percent of the ships were fully crewed," Maritime Administrator Mark Buzby noted later during a tour of the AMO Safety and Education Plan's STAR Center in Dania Beach, Florida. "You all responded very, very quickly when the call went out. That was a real great takeaway from this exercise. A lot of you were on vacation or here training or doing other things. Our mariners, you guys, answered the call, and I appreciate that."
Meanwhile, ships staffed at the licensed end by AMO served effectively in military exercises in the Gulf of Aden, the Philippines, Guam, Thailand and other points, and other vessels under AMO contract provided humanitarian and emergency lifesaving services in the deep-sea and Great Lakes sectors.
This is what seagoing AMO members do so well every day.
Shifting to AMO headquarters and union policy, cost containment - eliminating waste, extravagance and redundancy where we find it - remained central to our work. All but two months since mid-2015 have ended with sizable operating budget surpluses - money deposited into our union's cash reserve and investment accounts.
These accumulating surpluses triggered steady spikes in timely AMO membership dues receipts through direct payment to AMO and through authorized dues deductions from earned AMO Vacation Plan benefits.
These simultaneous developments constitute what I call a "productive partnership" between the AMO administration and the seagoing men and women within our ranks. One result is the remarkable growth of AMO funds; another is that AMO in 2020 will mark an unprecedented sixth year with no dues or initiation fee increases.
In his first year as AMO National Executive Vice President, Mike Finnigan has transformed collective bargaining, opening up negotiations to direct, meaningful rank-and-file participation and wide-open discussion, including confidential strategy sessions with negotiating committees before contract talks begin. This is transparency in the truest sense.
On the AMO Plans side of Federal Highway in Dania Beach, 2019 saw the launch of hands-on firefighting training on base at STAR Center. This class draws universally favorable reviews from the AMO members who experience it.
More recently, the joint union-employer trustees of the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan agreed to a 10-percent increase in earned monthly benefits for active vested AMO members. These unclaimed benefits had been stalled since December 2009, when the AMO Pension Plan was suspended as deficient under federal law. This benefit hike will kick in for new retirees in January 2020.
Our union's separate request for a narrow exemption from an Internal Revenue Service rule for qualified AMO members was pending in the U.S. Department of the Treasury at this writing, and it was undergoing review by senior bipartisan Congressional staff.
Under the rule exemption, active AMO members with 20 years or more of service would have the option of receiving their earned AMO Pension Plan monthly benefits for direct rollover to their individual Money Purchase Benefit accounts, where the money would grow through return on self-directed investment.
Our limited exemption proposal would serve a legitimate national security purpose by easing a growing, potentially crippling shortage of U.S. merchant marine officers qualified for strategic sealift service - the "first responders" in wartime, the men and women the Defense Department relies on exclusively to get its cargoes from here to there. Officers with sealift credentials and experience who are considering retirement at 20 years or more would instead be encouraged to remain at work, standing by for Ready Reserve Force and Military Sealift Command surge fleet mobilization assignments.
Another retirement security matter that remained unresolved December 1 was reform of the AMO Defined Contribution Plan - specifically, a rule revision to base DC Plan benefit calculations on length of service alone, instead of on a combination of service time and age. The DC Plan trustees are weighing four different service-only options and the potential impact of each approach - a far more complicated matter than the increase of AMO Pension Plan benefits for vested active AMO members. I remain confident that this will be settled early in the New Year.
In the spirit of what I see here as many glad tidings, and on behalf of the AMO executive board, AMO representatives and AMO support staff, I offer best wishes for joyous holidays and all good things for all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and their families. I ask that each of us keep a thought for the AMO members working at sea through the holidays, away from family and friends. We are grateful to them for their service and their professionalism.
AMO 2019: security, sound policy and real reform
By Paul Doell
National President
American Maritime Officers has much to celebrate in this holiday season. In 2019, we expanded our job base, enhanced our reputation for superior service under government contract and in commercial markets, dominated domestic tanker and dry cargo trades, sustained sound management of AMO assets, made real progress on retirement security for all AMO members and continued to promote real reform on several administrative fronts, from collective bargaining to honest conversation between AMO personnel and the seagoing AMO membership.
We saw our union's deep-sea fleet grow with the deliveries of the LNG-fueled combination container/roll-on, roll-off ship Taíno (Crowley); the TOTE-operated car carriers ARC Resolve, ARC Integrity and ARC Independence (American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier); the reflagged multipurpose ship M/V Maj. Richard Winters (Sealift Inc.); and the Maersk Valencia.
In addition, Military Sealift Command renewed its contract with Ocean Ships for the USNS Montford Point and USNS John Glenn.
By December 1, AMO fleets on the Great Lakes were wrapping up a busy, very productive shipping season, and our tug fleets held all year to long-set tradition with safe, smooth domestic services.
All of the jobs referred to here represent new or continuing employer contributions to AMO Plans, the benefit funds that serve all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and their families.
In an especially important separate development, AMO members reinforced our union's status as the principal source of engine and deck officers for defense shipping services in September when U.S. Transportation Command in the Department of Defense ordered up the "turbo activation" of 28 Ready Reserve Force and Military Sealift Command surge sealift ships. AMO filled the licensed jobs on 22 of these vessels, and they excelled at every level. The ships were underway safely and on time in this important exercise, with no operational setbacks.
TRANSCOM, the Maritime Administration and MSC were pleased with the results, which demonstrated that the RRF and MSC surge ships are in good professional hands, and that these vessels can meet their missions.
"By the end of the first day, about 80 percent of the ships were fully crewed," Maritime Administrator Mark Buzby noted later during a tour of the AMO Safety and Education Plan's STAR Center in Dania Beach, Florida. "You all responded very, very quickly when the call went out. That was a real great takeaway from this exercise. A lot of you were on vacation or here training or doing other things. Our mariners, you guys, answered the call, and I appreciate that."
Meanwhile, ships staffed at the licensed end by AMO served effectively in military exercises in the Gulf of Aden, the Philippines, Guam, Thailand and other points, and other vessels under AMO contract provided humanitarian and emergency lifesaving services in the deep-sea and Great Lakes sectors.
This is what seagoing AMO members do so well every day.
Shifting to AMO headquarters and union policy, cost containment - eliminating waste, extravagance and redundancy where we find it - remained central to our work. All but two months since mid-2015 have ended with sizable operating budget surpluses - money deposited into our union's cash reserve and investment accounts.
These accumulating surpluses triggered steady spikes in timely AMO membership dues receipts through direct payment to AMO and through authorized dues deductions from earned AMO Vacation Plan benefits.
These simultaneous developments constitute what I call a "productive partnership" between the AMO administration and the seagoing men and women within our ranks. One result is the remarkable growth of AMO funds; another is that AMO in 2020 will mark an unprecedented sixth year with no dues or initiation fee increases.
In his first year as AMO National Executive Vice President, Mike Finnigan has transformed collective bargaining, opening up negotiations to direct, meaningful rank-and-file participation and wide-open discussion, including confidential strategy sessions with negotiating committees before contract talks begin. This is transparency in the truest sense.
On the AMO Plans side of Federal Highway in Dania Beach, 2019 saw the launch of hands-on firefighting training on base at STAR Center. This class draws universally favorable reviews from the AMO members who experience it.
More recently, the joint union-employer trustees of the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan agreed to a 10-percent increase in earned monthly benefits for active vested AMO members. These unclaimed benefits had been stalled since December 2009, when the AMO Pension Plan was suspended as deficient under federal law. This benefit hike will kick in for new retirees in January 2020.
Our union's separate request for a narrow exemption from an Internal Revenue Service rule for qualified AMO members was pending in the U.S. Department of the Treasury at this writing, and it was undergoing review by senior bipartisan Congressional staff.
Under the rule exemption, active AMO members with 20 years or more of service would have the option of receiving their earned AMO Pension Plan monthly benefits for direct rollover to their individual Money Purchase Benefit accounts, where the money would grow through return on self-directed investment.
Our limited exemption proposal would serve a legitimate national security purpose by easing a growing, potentially crippling shortage of U.S. merchant marine officers qualified for strategic sealift service - the "first responders" in wartime, the men and women the Defense Department relies on exclusively to get its cargoes from here to there. Officers with sealift credentials and experience who are considering retirement at 20 years or more would instead be encouraged to remain at work, standing by for Ready Reserve Force and Military Sealift Command surge fleet mobilization assignments.
Another retirement security matter that remained unresolved December 1 was reform of the AMO Defined Contribution Plan - specifically, a rule revision to base DC Plan benefit calculations on length of service alone, instead of on a combination of service time and age. The DC Plan trustees are weighing four different service-only options and the potential impact of each approach - a far more complicated matter than the increase of AMO Pension Plan benefits for vested active AMO members. I remain confident that this will be settled early in the New Year.
In the spirit of what I see here as many glad tidings, and on behalf of the AMO executive board, AMO representatives and AMO support staff, I offer best wishes for joyous holidays and all good things for all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and their families. I ask that each of us keep a thought for the AMO members working at sea through the holidays, away from family and friends. We are grateful to them for their service and their professionalism.