Posted:
January 14, 2011
By Tom Bethel
National President
American Maritime Officers has a lot to look forward to in the New Year, but there will be challenges as well.
Our union enters 2011 with its superior standing among the three U.S. merchant marine officers' unions intact. AMO remains the principal source of engine and deck officers in commercial and government contract trades, both within the United States and in international maritime markets.
AMO also remains free of mortgages and other long-term debt. Income is up, and operating expenses are down. AMO membership dues rates - long the lowest among the licensed seagoing unions - will not increase in 2011.
In March, seagoing AMO members will cut the ceremonial ribbon to mark the official opening of our union's first ever fully functional headquarters building on Federal Highway in Dania Beach, Florida, across from the AMO Safety and Education Plan's unique Simulation, Training, Assessment and Research Center and the AMO Plans office complex.
While this building will reflect our union's singular status more suitably than the small, limited and confining two-story structure we now refer to as "headquarters" in Dania Beach, the practical considerations are far more important.
Because the building and the land are owned outright by American Maritime Officers, the monthly expense will be minimal - utilities, insurance and real estate taxes. And AMO will for the first time hold its headquarters membership meetings in its own hall, as the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association have done throughout their respective histories. Our union will no longer have to rent meeting space from AMO Plans.
There are also the prospects of renting space to maritime industry interests for conferences and seminars and the certainty of even greater efficiency by holding contract negotiations, employer conferences and AMO national executive board meetings in our own place called "home."
In addition, this new building will house all AMO administrative departments under one roof for one-stop service to the seagoing AMO membership. This building will provide all the comforts and conveniences AMO members and their families deserve while conducting union business or visiting socially with AMO officials and employees.
Meanwhile, every deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO member will see his or her individual retirement savings account open and grow under the new AMO Defined Contribution Plan, which went into effect January 1.
Paid for entirely by employers, the AMO Defined Contribution Plan this year should ease some of the painful sting many AMO members have felt since October 2009, when the defined benefit AMO Pension plan entered "critical" funding status as defined by the federal Pension Protection Act of 2006.
The AMO Defined Contribution Plan - coupled with the AMO Pension Plan's strong investment returns in 2010 - should also encourage AMO families as they navigate the projected seven-year recovery term set for the AMO Pension Plan under the rehabilitation strategy adopted by the AMO Pension Plan Board of Trustees.
These positive developments are tempered somewhat by the knowledge that our union will be tested dramatically in 2011.
Several deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters contracts will come up for renewal this year, and economic conditions and other factors could make negotiations more difficult than ever.
New AMO employment opportunities - some already in development - will be pursued, but many of these will depend upon worldwide demand for oil and natural gas.
AMO employers will compete for government shipping contracts under complex terms spelled out in "Requests for Proposals," or RFPs, all of which will be influenced by growing pressure to cut the federal budget and reduce the national debt.
The budget will also loom behind the effort of our union's Washington staff as they promote funding of the Maritime Security Program at the authorized level. The MSP, which accounts for AMO engine and deck jobs on 15 ships, is authorized through 2025, but Congress and the President must approve actual MSP spending every year - without a direct MSP appropriation in each budget cycle, the authorized lifespan of the program is a moot point.
Congress and the President must also approve funding of government-financed imports and exports, specific shares of which are set aside for privately owned and operated U.S.-flagged merchant vessels under the cargo preference laws. These laws - which account for AMO jobs on several ships - are always subject to controversy and contention.
The Jones Act, which holds all domestic waterborne trade for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the United States, is not a budget issue. But this does not mean that the law does not have its determined critics - as we learned last summer, when misinformation about the Jones Act spread as quickly as spilled crude oil during the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. We anticipate new challenges to the Jones Act in the new Congress.
But our union has two key strengths - an administrative team with the practical experience and the instinct to meet all of these challenges head-on, and a supportive seagoing membership whose skill and professionalism make all things possible for American Maritime Officers.
This year, as always, we welcome the comments and counsel of all AMO members in all trades. If there is disagreement on a specific policy or point, we will try for consensus. Meanwhile, I look forward to hearing from you.
AMO in 2011: optimism, but challenges are expected
By Tom Bethel
National President
American Maritime Officers has a lot to look forward to in the New Year, but there will be challenges as well.
Our union enters 2011 with its superior standing among the three U.S. merchant marine officers' unions intact. AMO remains the principal source of engine and deck officers in commercial and government contract trades, both within the United States and in international maritime markets.
AMO also remains free of mortgages and other long-term debt. Income is up, and operating expenses are down. AMO membership dues rates - long the lowest among the licensed seagoing unions - will not increase in 2011.
In March, seagoing AMO members will cut the ceremonial ribbon to mark the official opening of our union's first ever fully functional headquarters building on Federal Highway in Dania Beach, Florida, across from the AMO Safety and Education Plan's unique Simulation, Training, Assessment and Research Center and the AMO Plans office complex.
While this building will reflect our union's singular status more suitably than the small, limited and confining two-story structure we now refer to as "headquarters" in Dania Beach, the practical considerations are far more important.
Because the building and the land are owned outright by American Maritime Officers, the monthly expense will be minimal - utilities, insurance and real estate taxes. And AMO will for the first time hold its headquarters membership meetings in its own hall, as the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association have done throughout their respective histories. Our union will no longer have to rent meeting space from AMO Plans.
There are also the prospects of renting space to maritime industry interests for conferences and seminars and the certainty of even greater efficiency by holding contract negotiations, employer conferences and AMO national executive board meetings in our own place called "home."
In addition, this new building will house all AMO administrative departments under one roof for one-stop service to the seagoing AMO membership. This building will provide all the comforts and conveniences AMO members and their families deserve while conducting union business or visiting socially with AMO officials and employees.
Meanwhile, every deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO member will see his or her individual retirement savings account open and grow under the new AMO Defined Contribution Plan, which went into effect January 1.
Paid for entirely by employers, the AMO Defined Contribution Plan this year should ease some of the painful sting many AMO members have felt since October 2009, when the defined benefit AMO Pension plan entered "critical" funding status as defined by the federal Pension Protection Act of 2006.
The AMO Defined Contribution Plan - coupled with the AMO Pension Plan's strong investment returns in 2010 - should also encourage AMO families as they navigate the projected seven-year recovery term set for the AMO Pension Plan under the rehabilitation strategy adopted by the AMO Pension Plan Board of Trustees.
These positive developments are tempered somewhat by the knowledge that our union will be tested dramatically in 2011.
Several deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters contracts will come up for renewal this year, and economic conditions and other factors could make negotiations more difficult than ever.
New AMO employment opportunities - some already in development - will be pursued, but many of these will depend upon worldwide demand for oil and natural gas.
AMO employers will compete for government shipping contracts under complex terms spelled out in "Requests for Proposals," or RFPs, all of which will be influenced by growing pressure to cut the federal budget and reduce the national debt.
The budget will also loom behind the effort of our union's Washington staff as they promote funding of the Maritime Security Program at the authorized level. The MSP, which accounts for AMO engine and deck jobs on 15 ships, is authorized through 2025, but Congress and the President must approve actual MSP spending every year - without a direct MSP appropriation in each budget cycle, the authorized lifespan of the program is a moot point.
Congress and the President must also approve funding of government-financed imports and exports, specific shares of which are set aside for privately owned and operated U.S.-flagged merchant vessels under the cargo preference laws. These laws - which account for AMO jobs on several ships - are always subject to controversy and contention.
The Jones Act, which holds all domestic waterborne trade for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the United States, is not a budget issue. But this does not mean that the law does not have its determined critics - as we learned last summer, when misinformation about the Jones Act spread as quickly as spilled crude oil during the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. We anticipate new challenges to the Jones Act in the new Congress.
But our union has two key strengths - an administrative team with the practical experience and the instinct to meet all of these challenges head-on, and a supportive seagoing membership whose skill and professionalism make all things possible for American Maritime Officers.
This year, as always, we welcome the comments and counsel of all AMO members in all trades. If there is disagreement on a specific policy or point, we will try for consensus. Meanwhile, I look forward to hearing from you.