October 2019
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Vol. 55, No.5 The International Marine Division of ILA/AFL-CIO Sept. | Oct. 2019 Official Voice of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots Maersk Montana Crew Rescues Mariner From Sinking Sailboat Approval of Labor Unions Hits 50-Year High MLA Unions Pledge Solidarity With Striking Auto Workers The Master, Mate & Pilot is the Table of Contents official voice of the International Organization Vol. 55, No. 5 September | October 2019 of Masters, Mates & Pilots From the President 1 (International Marine Division of the ILA), The battle waged by thousands of striking auto workers brings AFL-CIO. © 2019 IOMMP. into sharp focus the challenges facing MM&P and the U.S. labor The Master, Mate & Pilot (ISSN movement as a whole. 0025-5033) is published bimonthly by the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots. MM&P News Briefs 2 Headquarters: 700 Maritime Blvd., Maersk Montana crew rescues mariner from sinking sailboat; Suite B, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090-1953. approval of labor unions hits 50-year high; MLA unions pledge Phone: (410) 850-8700 solidarity with striking auto workers; World War II Merchant E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.bridgedeck.org Marine Congressional Gold Medal legislation passed by House, Periodicals Postage Paid at awaits Senate action; Congress investigates Trump labor board for Elkridge, MD and additional flouting legal precedent to favor business and target unions. offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Master, Mate & Pilot, 700 Maritime MM&P Health & Benefit Plans 20 Blvd., Suite B, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090-1953 “Surprise” medical bills are a growing problem for patients and Don Marcus insurers. Here are some simple steps that every participant in the Chairman, Editorial Board Lisa Rosenthal MM&P health plan should take now. Communications Director News From MITAGS 22 INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS Don Marcus, President MITAGS West staffers visit Linthicum Heights; MM&P deck officers Don Josberger, Secretary-Treasurer study handling characteristics of Matson’s Kanaloa-class ships; VICE PRESIDENTS Great Lakes & Gulf members in fire-fighting class. Thomas Bell, Great Lakes & Gulf Stephen H. Doherty, Atlantic Maritime Thomas Larkin, Offshore Atlantic MM&P Pensioners 23 Klaus Luhta, Offshore Gulf & Government Affairs MM&P Directory 24 George A. Quick, Pilots Randall H. Rockwood, Federal Cross’d the Final Bar 27 Employees Timothy Saffle, Pacific Maritime Region Thank You Contributors to the MM&P PCF! 28 Lars Turner, Offshore Pacific The International Marine Division of ILA/AFL-CIO Vol. 55, No.5 Sept. | Oct. 2019 Connect With Us! About the Cover Official Voice of the International [email protected] Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots Captain Larry Campbell aboard the Margaret Moran in the company’s Bridgedeck.org Staten Island shipyard. In the Maersk Montana Crew Rescues Facebook.com/IOMMP Mariner From Sinking Sailboat foreground: MM&P Atlantic Maritime Approval of Labor Unions Hits 50-Year High Group Representative Mike Riordan, MLA Unions Pledge Solidarity YouTube: MastersMatesPilots With Striking Auto Workers who used to sail with Campbell on the tug. “We loved that beautiful boat, and Instagram: bridgedeck our crew/family at work,” Riordan says. Twitter: @MMP_Union FROM THE PRESIDENT Labor in 2019 Union Sisters and Brothers, Like most Unions around the country, Masters, Mates & Pilots faces its share of challenges in 2019. As this is being written, our members in Alaska are confronting the threat of unprecedented reductions in service to the Alaska Marine Highway System, our members employed aboard Pasha container vessels in the Hawaii trade face an uncertain future and our tugboat workers in the Port of San Juan continue in their years’ long battle for an equitable collective bargaining agreement. In the bigger picture, this is the story of labor in America and working people generally in 2019. As this is being written, 55,000 auto workers are on strike against General Motors, a company whose CEO was paid $22 million last year, a company that reported a pre-tax profit of $10.8 billion in 2018 and that received a $13.4 billion taxpayer-funded bailout in 2008. capital Juneau must be fought and won to preserve the first-class Notwithstanding this largess, the company is on a quest to close ferry system that has served coastal communities and infused the plants in North America, outsource the work overseas and south state economy for almost sixty years. of the border, and undercut the wages, working conditions and In all our battles, we must stand together and remember that benefits that once made the United Auto Workers one of the however difficult today’s circumstances may seem, the MM&P most successful Unions in the world and helped build America’s members who came before us and built our organization—in middle class. peace and in war—went through far more challenging times. The story is not simply one of corporate greed. The social With that in mind, I urge all our members to follow events compact between Capital and Labor is a vestige of the distant closely and participate in the functions of our Union. past: government by the corporations for the corporations is We are a democratic organization. We rely on membership now the reality. The infamous 2010 Supreme Court decision input, participation and collective action. All members have in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ushered in an recently received at least one important referendum ballot. era of more cash and corruption in politics than had been the This ballot concerns our relationship with the International norm within any living memory. Last year, in Janus v. American Longshoremen’s Association. It seeks your authority to adjust Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council that relationship as necessary to properly defend our interests. In 13, the Supreme Court continued its attack on our democratic two Inland membership groups, additional ballots will or have system by attempting to undermine the most important bastion been mailed asking for your approval to restructure our dues of working people: their Unions. systems in these regions to a more equitable, progressive manner Our democratic system will survive, as will trade unions, of assessment. Please review these referenda carefully and seek but unless far-reaching changes are made to our system and additional information if needed. consideration given to the future of our civil society, there will To rise to the many challenges ahead, we must have the be upheaval, similar to what caused progressive change in similar necessary financial resources and the freedom to act in the best eras of America’s past. interests of our members. MM&P leaders answer to you. We are What the UAW is going through to defend its’ members jobs, making ourselves available at every juncture to respond to your way of life and future is no different in principle from the battles questions and are sparing no effort to defend your jobs. MM&P is fighting in Alaska, on the West Coast and around the Sincerely & fraternally, country. The National Labor Relations Board, former arbiter of industrial justice, has become a bad joke. The foxes are now Don Marcus guarding the hen house. In Alaska, a political battle in the state MM&P President www.bridgedeck.org - The Master, Mate & Pilot 1 NEWS BRIEFS Crew of Maersk Montana Rescues Mariner From Sinking Sailboat The officers and crew of Maersk Montana are being commended for saving a mariner who abandoned his sinking sailboat on the night of Sept. 20 in the Eastern Atlantic about 200 miles southwest of Cork, Ireland. Maersk Montana received the initial distress call as it was sailing en route to Antwerp. It diverted from its course to close on the distressed vessel, eventually making voice contact with the lone sailor, Mihail “Miki” Chumachenkov, who said his sailboat, La Belle Vie, was taking on water. After updating other vessels closing on the scene from further away, Captain Richard G. Hoey agreed to be on-scene commander. He and Miki then settled on a rescue plan: Montana would remain upwind of La Belle Vie and approach close aboard until a messenger line could be sent. Maersk Montana crew with the rescued sailor. (Front row, left to right) Third Mate Steven A stronger line would then be passed and Miller; Claribel Cabral, SA; (second row) James Cameron, chief steward; Sunnil Motley, bosun; made fast to the mast so the sailboat could lie Fethanegest Demoz, AB; Eddie Almodovar, electrician; Chief Mate Forrest Halley; Captain alongside and Miki could be brought aboard Richard Hoey; Miki Chumachenkov (survivor); (third row) George Phillips, AB; Blaine McDonough, cadet; Brett Starr, cadet; Chief Engineer Jeremy Travers. by whatever means was most convenient. “The pilot ladder was ready, a pair of nets were ready to lower from anywhere on the deck and many lines were made ready,” reported Third Mate Stephen J. Miller. “At 1945, Maersk Montana began her approach,” he wrote. “This was the tricky part. The ship needed to be at a speed slow enough to where she could run the engine astern and yet fast enough to catch La Belle Vie, which was still under sail, to maintain a stable condition.” “To make this work, Chief Engineer Jeremy Travers led a gang of lookouts on the bridge wings,” while the other members of the engineering department manned the equipment below. Miller “picked out La Belle Vie’s weak radar return from the heavy background interference caused by the Force 8 seas and continuously passed the boat’s position and the ship’s true course and speed to Captain Hoey so that he could manage the motion of the ship to both power and drift onto La Belle Vie.” “A containership is anything but graceful in a windy and rough sea at slow speed,” Miller noted.