COVID counts force cancellation of October membership meeting
The regularly scheduled AMO membership meeting at headquarters October 5 has been canceled because of persistent uncertainty over the rate of COVID-19 contagion in South Florida and other concerns.
On September 25, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially lifted all statewide preventive measures affecting restaurants, bars and other small businesses, causing local authorities and entrepreneurs to question whether local restrictions on crowd size, the required use of masks in public places and "social distancing" remained in force.
The Governor's action reflected what his office said appeared to be declining rates of new novel coronavirus cases and deaths statewide.
In Broward County - which includes Dania Beach, home of AMO headquarters - there were confirmed totals of 77,122 COVID-19 cases and 1,411 deaths, with 5.17 percent of residents testing positive for the virus as of September 30, according to the Florida Department of Health. The county's overall positivity rate since the national health emergency was declared in mid-March 2020 hovered just below 14 percent.
Local restrictions in response to the pandemic allow indoor gatherings of 10 or more only when the positivity rate is below 5 percent.
In the bordering counties of Miami-Dade to the South and Palm Beach to the North, the deaths attributed to the pandemic were 3,264 and 1,371, respectively.
These grim current conditions, the local restrictions on gathering and the forecast autumn-winter "second wave" surge of infections and fatalities - coronavirus cases were spiking significantly in 26 states by September 30 - were sufficient to cause the AMO Executive Board to call the October 5 membership meeting off.
The AMO Executive Board's consensus was crafted as well by the real risk to AMO members arriving from elsewhere in Florida or from other states - including states that require 14 days of quarantine for residents returning home from Florida.
That the October 5 meeting had been planned for an open-air site on the STAR Center campus across Federal Highway from AMO headquarters - where protocols to limit contagion have been in place since the training center reopened June 1 - was less a consideration to the AMO Executive Board, which decided ultimately to keep faith with first policy priority: to protect the health and the lives of all AMO members and their families.
While significantly smaller in scale, the logistics of arranging an AMO membership meeting anywhere under current circumstances - and the dilemma - are the same as the difficulty state, county and municipal authorities are experiencing nationwide as they try to determine when - and how - to reopen elementary and secondary schools.
Some have pushed for virtual meetings via Zoom, but all you have to do is Google "Zoom vulnerabilities" to understand why this app has been challenged on its flaws, which include difficulty confirming the identities and motives of conference participants and the sudden appearance of porn videos - as was the case recently when a freshman class at MacArthur High School in neighboring Hollywood, Florida, had lessons at home disrupted by X-rated scenes, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Others have noted that the AMO Constitution requires official monthly membership meetings at headquarters, but our union's governing document - which conforms to all U.S. Department of Labor standards and requirements - was not written in anticipation of a pandemic. Under all current circumstances, we have to be responsible, not reckless. We all have to adapt and adjust to a direct, dramatic threat no one foresaw eight months ago.
While safeguarding the AMO membership and all AMO families is our immediate intent, we also have to get as much important, relevant information out to everyone as possible and practical - reports on AMO finances and the state of the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan, updates on personal and professional COVID complications, for example.
We distribute key notices through AMO Currents and AMO membership email - AMO members who do not receive AMO Currents or email are asked to notify AMO headquarters.
In addition, AMO boarding reps are visiting ships on the East, Gulf and West Coasts and on the Great Lakes while conforming to all appropriate health care protocols, which vary from port to port and from terminal to terminal.
At headquarters and in Washington, DC, AMO officials are addressing such uneven matters as "gangway up," restriction to ship, unduly long service stretches aboard ship and stubborn difficulties getting relief officers to vessels at ports in the U.S. and overseas.
In the longer term, we intend to revive East, West and Gulf Coast vessel visits by AMO officials and to expand post-season membership area meetings in Great Lakes ports.
We all want monthly AMO membership meetings, but we also have to remain aware of the hardships experienced by AMO members who have had to miss important family functions, the simple pleasures of time off at home and the pursuit of personal interests through no fault of their own.
We have to note the burdens befalling AMO members who have had to assist family members displaced from their jobs or forced to close their small businesses because of the COVID economy, and we have to reflect on the emotional anguish known by AMO members who have lost loved ones or friends under any circumstance and who were unable to attend funerals or memorial services.
As always, I welcome your comments, questions and perspectives.
Paul Doell
October 1, 2020