I was told when MEBA engineers take an AMO engineering job the company will continue to pay into AMO plans. And the AMO plans will reimburse MEBA plans. Same goes for any exchange in the other direction. So the companies won’t change anything it will be the Plans departments of both unions exchanging the contributions money.
Sounds like there is no hassle for the Mariner or company. Which is nice.
I was starving for work with MMP I also live 80 miles from the nearest hall I switched to AMO and have had all the work I could possibly want and couldn’t be happier I am glad to see two off the unions cooperating
Most union members would love to live that close to a hall.
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The idea of going to a Union Hall in some shithole neighborhood of a port city hundreds of miles from home and hanging around with a bunch of winos begging for a job for weeks never appealed to me very much.
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Very well, carry on. Obviously the unions survived without your membership, and you appear to have had a good career without the union halls.
The system is not without flaws, but union halls exist for a reason. Those that live close to a hall do get an added convenience, it’s not massively game-changing.
I’ve learned a lot about the foreign crewing methods from some acquaintances. Even for high standard euro countries, the sailors are often powerless and have much anxiety. I think our “hall” system is pretty damn good, in comparison.
Asshole bossman? just go get another job.
It makes it easier to find people for turbo activations of MARAD ships.
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Yes. Here’s a quote from the email:
For example, qualified AMO members can accept jobs of varying specific lengths aboard vessels under contract to M.E.B.A. at wage rates in place under the applicable collective bargaining agreements, and the M.E.B.A. employers would pay AMO Plans directly for health care, retirement, license upgrading and training and all other benefits due these AMO members at the employer contribution rates specified in the appropriate contracts.
The reverse would apply in cases where the M.E.B.A provides qualified officers to fill vacancies on vessels operating under AMO contract.
It is one hell of a lot cheaper to get my jobs via a phone call
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You get on the shit list of the dispatcher and that phone will quickly stop ringing.
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Who has the better funded (solvent) pension plan ?
AMO or MEBA ?
When do they merge the Plans?
Askin’ for a friend …
What’s the reason?
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It’s supposed to be for transparency. You see who got the job, and it wasn’t through sliding the dispatcher your vacation check or being on his good side so they hold jobs for you. This did happen not too many years back with AMO and some of their people paid dearly for it, I recall. You also have the right to challenge a job call if you believe something was done in error, which sometimes worked to the advantage of the person complaining — whether Applicant or A-Book.
I don’t mind the trek to the hall. I always ask the whiners who are gainfully employed elsewhere that if it’s such a bad system, why do you care so much how we put our people to work?
Response: Crickets
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AMO doesn’t have a pension plan.
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To the best of my knowledge, none of the “Inland” maritime unions have hiring halls. Whether working union (and usually getting screwed one way or another) or non-union, I have always been hired directly by the owners, usually over the phone. No union has ever helped me get a job, keep a job, or improve my working conditions.
Unions have indirectly helped me get more money while working non-union on “prevailing wage” jobs.
Unions have also helped me get less money, when non-union owners have refused raises or given tiny raises while pointing out that they were already voluntarily “paying union wages.”
I can see where a hiring hall might work well for local mariners when the supply of mariners is in balance with the number of available jobs. However, for most of my life, there has been a huge glut of mariners and far too few jobs.
Union tugboat mariners can no longer afford to live in Seattle or New York. Almost everyone drives or flies a few hours to work. The cost of food and lodging is too high to hang around at a union hall looking for a job.
Is there anyone who thinks that the “inland” tugboat unions are any good?
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Except nobody tells you that the open board jobs get called in New York before anywhere else, so if you’re sitting in Boston you’re SOL.
I only asked because Mr. Dollar is all about innovation and it seems like a dated system. Online halls works just fine, and apparently the union members elsewhere are happy going to a physical hall. To each their own
My remark there wasn’t directed at you specifically, just that over the years some rather heated arguments have been started by people claiming to be doing rather well and happier where they’re at. No one loves traveling to the halls for work, it’s just what we signed up for — we knew this going in.
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The open board jobs are posted now for everyone to see online and they tell you where to go to take them off the board. That was a fairly recent change made to the system — within the last 6 months or so.
So you can’t take an open board job from any hall now? You have to get to that hall to claim it?
