November-December 2015
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Vol. 51, No.6 Nov. — Dec. 2015 The International Marine Division of ILA/AFL-CIO Official Voice of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots Best Wishes for 2016 Table of Contents The Master, Mate & Pilot is the official voice of the International Vol. 51, No. 6 November — December 2015 Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots Letter From the President 1 (International Challenges on the horizon, but our bearings remain true. Marine Division of the ILA), AFL-CIO. © 2015 IOMMP. The Master, Mate & Pilot News Briefs 2 (ISSN 0025-5033) is published bimonthly by the International Awards for heroism to officers and crew of MV Malaspina and USNS McLean; Organization of Masters, Mates Maritime Labor Alliance unions meet and pledge solidarity to support gains & Pilots. MM&P Headquarters: of recent longshore contracts; Maritime Security Program funding increase 700 Maritime Blvd., Suite B, Linthicum Heights, MD signed into law; MM&P meets with MSC management on behalf of CONMARS 21090-1953. and CIVMARS; dependence on foreign-flag ships puts U.S. at risk of “sea Phone: (410) 850-8700 strangulation,” study finds. E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.bridgedeck.org Periodicals Postage Paid at Elkridge, MD and additional Interview 25 offices. POSTMASTER: Send Meet Captain Donn Pratt, master of NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter and member of the address changes to The Master, Mate & Pilot, 700 Maritime MM&P Federal Employees Membership Group. Blvd., Suite B, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090-1953 Don Marcus Chairman, Editorial Board MM&P Health & Benefit Plans 27 Lisa Rosenthal Annual health & benefit plan open enrollment in November and December; last Communications Director day for processing Pension and Vacation payments is Dec. 22; pensioners’ earning INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS limitation. Don Marcus, President Steven Werse, Secretary-Treasurer VICE PRESIDENTS David H. Boatner, Offshore Pacific Scholarships 30 Wayne Farthing, Offshore Gulf Don Josberger, Offshore Atlantic C. Michael Murray, United Inland George A. Quick, Pilots Pensioners 31 Randall H. Rockwood, FEMG Ron Tucker, Atlantic Maritime MM&P Directory 32 Cross’d the Final Bar 36 Printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based inks and 100% wind power. Thank You Contributors to the PCF! 38 Vol. 51, No.6 Nov. — Dec. 2015 The International Marine Division of ILA/AFL-CIO About the Cover Connect with Us! Facebook.com/IOMMP MM&P members were in MM&P is on Facebook, Twitter Official Voice of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots the news this year. Our and YouTube. Like us. Follow @MMP_Union union’s strength derives us. Re-post and re-tweet. Every from our members and time you do, you help MM&P MastersMatesPilots from staunch adherence to build an essential online the democratic principles community of members and allies. Connect with us today. And set forth by our founders. if you have news or photos you want to share with everyone, Best Wishes for 2016 send us an e-mail at: [email protected]. FROM THE PRESIDENT Union Sisters and Brothers: efforts of our own Jim Patti, President of MIRAID, for the important role he has had in making this happen. s we enter the 129th year since our founding in January We are hopeful for additional improvements in the Maritime 1887, our union’s time-honored slogan, “Faith Is a Living Security Program by the end of 2016. Those improvements will A Power,” could not be more germane. only happen if there is unity of purpose in the industry and Although a number of challenges cloud the horizon, our honest partnership between labor and industry. bearings remain true. We will steam ahead as we have through In the immortal words of former San Francisco 49er (and the generations since our founding. It is worthwhile recalling Dallas Cowboy) great Deion Saunders “[i]t’s hard for me to fathom that MM&P was born primarily as an inland organization. It was that I gotta be loyal to you if you’re not loyal to me.” Such is the founded in reaction to the outrageous criminalization of Captain sentiment every MM&P member must feel after being subject Charles H. Smith after a boiler explosion and the ensuing fire to the recent manipulation of the Maritime Security Program aboard the Long Island Steamer Seawanaka caused grievous loss by American President Lines (APL) in an effort to avoid their of life. Over time, deep-sea mariners came to predominate in collective bargaining obligations aboard the MV APL Cyprine. our union. Today, as the international trade U.S. flag merchant Here we have what was once a great American ship owning marine continues to decline in size, our Inland sector has taken company that has become little more than a Singapore-owned on increased prominence: with the new Atlantic Maritime U.S. mailbox. The U.S. subsidiary, APL Limited, is operated Group, based in New York Harbor, we are closer than ever to our by a handful of shills trying to finish out their careers as camp roots. followers to their lords in Singapore as they leech off the political While we have good cause to celebrate the resurgence of our efforts of maritime labor in Washington, D.C. Inland sector—East Coast, West Coast and Great Lakes—we In 2009, APL paid $26.3 million to resolve fraud claims must brace for challenges in 2016. The greatest challenges for alleged inflated shipping costs to Iraq and Afghanistan. In continue to be those facing our Offshore Membership Group. October 2015, the company paid another $9.8 million to settle For many years the organizational and financial engine of our contractor fraud claims. And APL’s U.S. citizen hangers-on are union, Offshore division mariners must deal with the virtual no longer content merely to rip-off the U.S. taxpayer. We should abandonment by key federal policy makers of our international not be shocked that the company is attempting to renege on its trade industry. collective bargaining agreements with four loyal union partners Nevertheless, as we go to press, after great effort by our who have supported it not only through all the economic ups legislative staff in Washington, D.C., and thanks to a solid core of and downs of the maritime industry but also through the Second Congressional allies on both sides of the political aisle (and the World War and every conflict since. work of many others), it appears that the long-desired $400,000 Even considering the flaccid ethical standards of APL per ship “bump-up” in annual Maritime Security Program leadership, it is hard to stomach that while the company has funding will occur for fiscal year 2016. While this is a far cry had its lips firmly clasped around the financial nipple of Uncle from what the industry had hoped for, it should be an assist to Sam, sucking every conceivable dollar out of the U.S. govern- our employers who are in the midst of an international shipping ment, it has been urging its U.S. labor partners to be loyal foot slump and who have seen U.S. government impelled cargoes soldiers. At MARAD, the U. S. Coast Guard, the Department of reduced to a trickle. Transportation, in Congress, and, of course, relentlessly aboard The financial “bump-up,” as well as the reauthorization of the ship, our members have been urged to do everything we possibly Export-Import Bank, should provide some encouragement to can to support APL’s efforts. Meanwhile they have been secretly Maritime Security Program ocean carriers that have been waver- planning to discard us. ing. Throughout our industry, all recognize the tremendous continued on page 2 The Master, Mate & Pilot - 1 - November - December 2015 NEWS BRIEFS MM&P Members and Friends Receive Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards MM&P licensed deck officers were among those recognized for hero- ism Nov. 13 at the prestigious United Seamen’s Service Admiral of the Ocean Sea (AOTOS) awards ceremony in New York City. On behalf of the officers and crew of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry MV Malaspina, Captain Scott Macaulay and Chief Mate Dave Turner accepted the Honored Seafarers’ Plaque for the rescue of a fisherman from a boat that sank off British Columbia in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 2014. Macaulay, Turner and the other licensed deck officers employed by the Alaska Marine Highway System are members of the MM&P United Inland Group-Pacific Maritime Region (UIG-PMR). Captain James White accepted the Honored Seafarers’ Plaque on behalf of the officers and crew of Military Sealift Command’s USNS McLean for the rescue of two people aboard the sailboat Solarus on May 14, 2015. White is a member of the MM&P Federal Employees Membership Group (FEMG), which represents all the licensed deck officers aboard the vessel. The awards were presented by Rear Adm. Thomas K. Shannon, commander, Military Sealift Command, and Ed Morgan, president of United Seamen’s Service. MM&P President Don Marcus, UIG Vice Captain Scott Macauley (left) and Chief Mate Dave Turner (right) of the Alaska Marine Highway System with MM&P United Inland Group Vice continued on page 3 President Mike Murray. Macauley and Turner accepted the Honored Seafarers’ Plaque on behalf of the officers and crew of MV Malaspina. The licensed deck officers aboard AMHS ferries are all members of the MM&P United Inland Group-Pacific Maritime Region. From the President, continued from page 1 Thank you, APL, for the reality check. Your absolute hypoc- are for the most part being absorbed, the Crowley contract with risy regarding application of the APL Code of Conduct will be the Alyeska Pipeline in Valdez remains undecided.