Hey guys, I’ll keep this short. I have my 3/M license and tankerman PIC and I’ve been waiting for almost a year for a job from AMO. I keep telling myself after the next job I’ll try MMP but from what I hear about MMP there aren’t good odds of getting a job there either. Is there a trick I’m missing or am I an idiot? Thanks for any advice.
[QUOTE=Condition 1;194874]Hey guys, I’ll keep this short. I have my 3/M license and tankerman PIC and I’ve been waiting for almost a year for a job from AMO. I keep telling myself after the next job I’ll try MMP but from what I hear about MMP there aren’t good odds of getting a job there either. Is there a trick I’m missing or am I an idiot? Thanks for any advice.[/QUOTE]
I joined AMO later in life (40) when i got my 3M. Started out tankering (which i dislike) and moved onto other things.
If you contact US Shipping or OSG directly you’d likely have a good shot of getting in. US Shipping is the ground floor of AMO and the first AMO job for many members. TAGOS ships (run by Crowley or Maersk now? Also have trouble getting people, as well.
Don’t know anything about MMP, but I had no desire to sit in a union Hall for months waiting for a job. AMO has jobs posted online. best of luck
[QUOTE=Condition 1;194874]Thanks for any advice.[/QUOTE]
Friends don’t advise friends to join AMO. That said, you have to do whatever it takes to get work, just don’t get stuck as a bottom feeder.
[QUOTE=Condition 1;194874]Hey guys, I’ll keep this short. I have my 3/M license and tankerman PIC and I’ve been waiting for almost a year for a job from AMO. I keep telling myself after the next job I’ll try MMP but from what I hear about MMP there aren’t good odds of getting a job there either. Is there a trick I’m missing or am I an idiot? Thanks for any advice.[/QUOTE]
I try not to give advise. i have found that free advise, given even from the highest of authority, at the end of the incident, I didn’t get what I wanted and I paid too much for the advice. Now, as to your mental condition, you don’t need any free advice. Look at the facts. You’re trying to get out through AMO. Do you think opening a national “Dear Abby” interrogative titled “Am I being a sucker for AMO” is going to have the dispatchers setting their alarm clocks 30 minutes early so they can get you the first job called in that day?
You’ve shipped through AMO before. It took me exactly one ship to figure out that seamen don’t give advice to help you or guide you. They are trying to reinforce their unending knowledge, from who killed Kennedy to why we faked the moon landing and to support their claims above contradictory statements they were given that information by the president of the company while they were getting a toot on with the president of Panama and the guy that invented WD40 whose name escapes them presently, yea just the four of them. The two best ships in a seaman’s life is his last ship and his next ship. You may recall “GDit, you insert the rank,we didn’t have to do this on my last ship” or “This is BS, I’m going back on TAGOS, they’re still flying the flag at half mast when I left”. You can’t rely on officer’s advice all the time. They may be trying to get you off because a buddy, who has no claim to return to the job may be able to return if you’re gone and the office hasn’t turned the vacancy in yet Unfortunately, nine times out of ten it’s a KP maneuver
Some guys pick up collusion right away. These men come into the Merchant Marine without a sense of honesty, loyalty or playing by the rules. Rules are for the suckers. Connections that got them into the academy, got them the best jobs cadet shipping, got them into the union have always worked. Now is not the time to abandon whatever influence they inherited for fair play. Combine that with some union patrolmen that have “alligator arms” when it’s their turn. The dispatchers are unaware of industry. Dispatchers aren’t seamen. They may or may not know what the pointy end’s called, but they sure know how to put a bug in the higher up’s ears on how to make their job easier, like allowing 3rd and 2nd have permanent jobs.
I know how I believed in the American Dream. I actually heard the door slam behind me. I can tell you come from a safe home, your parents helped you anyway they could, you busted your ass to make it out with a license and it’s not working. You need a jump start and it’s not supposed to be that way. Most of us start our private lives screaming liberals. You may have gone to the march on Washington for three legged dogs last week, but as you start being the one that’s unemployed you won’t be turning your sixth sense off like it is wrong and you have to tell the things it’s tweaking in you in confession. It took me years to listen to it but now if something doesn’t smell right, if my sixth sense is warning me, it’s good enough for me. If you are choosing to me a member of organized labor or not you’re going to be hired with the understanding that you are honing your sixth sense every second. When you can out think those three legged dogs, you’ll find that along with your new respect for your sixth sense, you will politically be a little right of center. Then you can start figuring out how a career with the AMO can make you a rich man.
There were seven lassies, your Mother is the only person that will give you advice totally with only your success in mind. Whores screw for money, wives screw for refrigerators. I ran a better ship than some of the companies I worked for ran a company. If you absolutely know that, when you get called to the office buy a round trip ticket. If you can’t out think a room full of accountants and ex CG LTs, you won’t take control of the room inside of an hour. If your objective is being accomplished too easily you are going to be ambushed. you haven’t spent the time with your sixth sense. Here are the tough ones. Problems will eventually come up or your particular problem isn’t being given the proper attention. The unwritten law that many never learn is [U]What’s good for the union and whats good for the members sometimes are two different things.[U][/U]. The unions had no interest in getting merchant seaman any type of tax free status for our time in the war zone in Iraq but at the end of the day I had so much money Donald trump had bills with my picture on it. [U]Keep your head down, save your arrows.[U] Don’t tell what you’re up to to other people. Whether it’s the company or the union if a fish farts as you were sailing by the proper blame will be attached to you in writing before you even have a clue. [U]Take no prisoners, never forget who screwed you over. It may take a while but either you or your enemy will be at your retirement, not both of you. It’s your decision.[U] You won’t know it but a lot more folks than you know are waiting to see how you handle your problem. [U]When you are asked for contributions, don’t make the union ask twice. You’ll get it back in spades.[U] [U]Before you make a big complaint make sue you are on solid ground. I knew where every comma in the contract was. Don’t make a complaint to the union with others present and don’t bring something up for someone else, see keeping your head down.[U] When you are in FL stop by to let them remember what you look like[U]15 minutes is sufficient, leave your card with your last ship and position on it. Write “trying to get out on it”.[U]
Now for your particular problem here’s your jump start. Get a list of the companies affiliated with the union, choose the one’s you are interested it or are an acceptable driving distance and call on them. Tell them you have been trying to get out since—. Your name has been on the top of the shipping list since----, so you know the union has sent your resume to them for their approval. Take a resume out of your brief case and ask them if “there’s anything that’s not clear to them or have any questions about”? Then don’t say another word except to answer their questions. Don’t tell a soul except your mother if someone gets a whiff of what you did. If you have to tell them “the personnel director has the camp next to your uncle, you’ve known him all your life”. Try to make the denial work and don’t do it again. [U]Learn how to live in the shadows[U]It’s also good advice until you start sailing C/Mate.[U] If you are going to spend your career in the union, act like you know you made the right decision. Be a good union man. "Best job I ever had, best ship, best run. it’ll be true don’t be afraid to give the devil his do. An example is the dynamic positioning course presently underway is not full.[U]Don’t pay anyone in the organization off for anything[U]. They don’t belong and report them. It’s like leaving a bowl of milk on the porch.[/U]Give things time to get worked out[U] If your name has really been at the top of the shipping list for a year, it’s time for a letter followed up with a phone call to the VP o Deep Water. Capt Joseph Gremmelsbacker is the fairest, most knowledgeable man in labor I’ve met. He’s a perfect gentleman. There is nowhere in AMO he can’t reach. [U]Everyone has their TAGOS dues paying year. I dragged around a 14K/ton barge for a year and a half for $1200/mo to pay my “you help me, I’ll help you” period. I’ve had the best time off, best pay, medical, retirement, family coverage, training, tuition expenses for my kids and the right legal assistance should I have needed it AMO was right for me.
i don’t know what to tell you about MMP i would have to have had another job to get a job. If you do register with MMP throw your card in in Providence, RI. Believe it or not tankers out of Providence is MMP’s best port in the winter.
Keep your head down, stay in the shadows, remember everything and I almost signed off without saying [U][/U]place a strong value on loyalty.[/U] The higher you go the bigger target you’ll be. You’ll have to clear your name about things you’ve done on ships you’ve never seen. Take the Conn. You wanted it ,you’ve worked for it for years. Make it work for you. Be smarter. Your license is a license to learn.
[/U]
2 Likes