AMO Pension

Professional Mariner Forum
221

I don’t recall anyone in the Bethel camp knocking Joe Connors. Can anyone find what Hearn was talking about in this regardand post it here?

From ychangenow

Joe Connors, the Mine Workers and other odds and ends

Jack Hearn and his AMO Membership Committee labeled their Oct. 4 campaign Web site post “Truth and Transparency,” but both values were missing from the patchwork piece, which addressed topics ranging from alleged corruption in AMO to the number of active AMO members.

Jack and the AMC repeated their ignorant, even irrational charge that some individuals now serving as AMO officials were granted immunity from prosecution in USA v. McKay – a charge that was addressed here yesterday by Tom Bethel, who had also addressed this specific Hearn-AMC allegation repeatedly and in detail during the AMO election in 2008.

Elsewhere in the post, Jack and the AMC took another bizarre turn when they defended the character and credentials of Joe Connors, a volunteer advisor to the Hearn-AMC campaign on retirement issues. Connors had been a trustee of the United Mine Workers of America Pension Fund – which Jack had valued at $8.5 billion, and which Jack and the AMC had touted for a time as a model of what the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan could be under a Hearn-AMC administration.

Our response to the Connors connection included a simple, straightforward, timely and accurate report that the Mine Workers’ pension fund today is insolvent, that 120,000 UMWA members and their dependents would lose both their pension benefits and their health care coverage, and that a prominent West Virginia Congressman was seeking a federal bailout of the fund.

In their Oct. 4 post, Jack and the AMC said the information we had provided was “misleading.” Jack and the AMC should take that up with the Congressman (Rep. Nick Rahall), whose official Web site includes much material supporting our report on the state of the UMWA fund.

Jack and the AMC also said we were not “honest” in our commentary on Mr. Connors, and they faulted us for not reporting that Mr. Connors had retired in 1993.

But it was Jack and the AMC who brought Joe Connors into the conversation, and it was Jack and the AMC who did not provide relevant information about Mr. Connors or his time with the Mine Workers under John L. Lewis. We never once criticized Mr. Connors or questioned his expertise. We never once showed Mr. Connors anything but respect.

In a statement we posted here on August 7, we wrote: "We do not know anything about Joe Connors, personally or professionally. We cannot comment objectively on his credentials, his capabilities or his career. We are certain that Mr. Connors earned much admiration and respect in labor and industry during his service to the UMW, and we are certain that he is – in Jack’s words – a ‘dignified’ and ‘good’ man.

“But we can comment fairly on what Jack and the AMC expect AMO members to believe Mr. Connors can achieve on their behalf during a persistent nationwide pension crisis that shows no sign of easing.”

Nevertheless, Jack and the AMC this time felt compelled to defend Mr. Connors. “We stand by Joe,” they wrote. What Jack and the AMC cannot stand by is the hasty, reckless retirement security strategy Jack and the AMC were forced into when the Mine Workers’ pension ploy collapsed around them.

DOL guts Hearn-AMC election complaint

In their Oct. 4 post, Jack and the AMC revived the debate over the fate of their formal challenge to the conduct and outcome of the AMO election in 2006, when Michael McKay defeated Jack, and when four AMC candidates were elected to official positions by narrow margins. At its strongest in 2006, the AMC never won more than one-third of the vote.

In their bid to have the U.S. Department of Labor overturn the 2006 election, Jack and the AMC filed 19 specific counts alleging wrongdoing by the AMO administration in office at the time – and we now know that at least 15 of these counts were provided by a former AMO official who had been convicted of embezzlement from AMO in USA v. McKay, and who had counseled Jack and the AMC on campaign strategy in 2006 and 2008 in a collaboration Jack and the AMC concealed from the seagoing AMO membership.

The Labor Department dismissed all but one of the counts filed by Jack and the AMC. The department concluded that an independent mailing service failed to deliver one AMC candidate’s campaign literature in 2006. This same independent mailing service also failed to deliver a brochure prepared by the incumbent candidates in 2006.

In response, the Bethel administration agreed to a limited re-run election under Labor Department supervision in 2008. Jack was defeated in this election as well. One other AMC candidate defeated an incumbent official based on the Great Lakes, served for about a year and resigned to return to sea.

Jack and the AMC made no reference to any of this in their Oct. 4 campaign post, but they did say that the Labor Department had advised the AMO membership of the new election in November 2007 – one month after the Bethel administration announced the new election in AMO Currents, the official online newsletter of American Maritime Officers.

The election in 2008 was the first held under election reform initiatives put in place by the Bethel administration while the Hearn-AMC complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor was pending.

The failed Hearn-AMC lawsuit and restitution

Jack and the AMC also revived the debate over how financial restitution to AMO was secured from the former AMO president and former AMO secretary-treasurer, both of whom had been convicted in January 2007 of multiple felonies after a five-week jury trial.

Jack and the AMC have said repeatedly that restitution was a result of the civil lawsuit they had filed against AMO and several individuals in February 2007 – a case that failed on every single count, a case that cost AMO more than $700,000 in what proved to be needless legal expenses.

We have said repeatedly – accurately, and with confirmation from the public record – that restitution orders were handed down by the federal court during sentencing, and that the Bethel administration worked with general counsel and with the Department of Justice to collect restitution not only from the two individuals specified by Jack and the AMC, but also from the former AMO official and convicted felon who had counseled the Hearn-AMC campaigns, and from others convicted of felonies in the case.

To support their claim, Jack and the AMC quoted the judge in the civil case as saying in his decision that the former top two AMO officials were “liable” for restitution – but Jack and the AMC did not note in the interest of honest full disclosure that the decision’s references to restitution were in “Findings of Fact,” not in the decision itself. “Findings of Fact” provide background and a narrative of events leading to the case under consideration.

“Findings of Fact” in the decision that destroyed the Hearn-AMC civil case noted that the Bethel administration in January 2007 authorized a lawsuit to secure restitution, but that the lawsuit was delayed at the request of the Department of Justice, which – according to “Findings of Fact” – said it would “pursue all restitution owed to the union.”

This portion of the Oct. 4 post was a clear case of Jack and the AMC trying to salvage something from complete failure in a federal district court and on appeal, some way to justify more than $700,000 in legal fees incurred by AMO.

The AMO membership roll

In their Oct. 4 post, Jack and the AMC questioned the number of active AMO members – but they did it in a very questionable way.

“The 2010 LM-2 filed by the AMO states the number of members as 3,425 versus 4,921 MEBA members,” Jack and the AMC wrote. This is a direct quote, and it provides further evidence that Jack and the AMC do not know how to read an LM-2.

For one thing, no one reading an AMO LM-2 would find any reference at all to the MEBA or to the MEBA membership.

More importantly, the membership number is fluid, subject to change every day as members retire, pass away or find employment elsewhere.

Tom Bethel, National President
José Leonard, National Secretary-Treasurer
Bob Kiefer, National Executive Vice President
Joe Gremelsbacker, National Vice President (Deep Sea)
Don Cree, National Vice President (Great Lakes)
Charles Murdock, National Vice President (Inland Waters)
Mike Murphy, National Vice President (Government Relations)

222

I went to the AMO website and read through the decision by U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez on October 24, 2008 (go from the home page to bulletins, then to older bulletins). This was the decision that blew Jack Hearn and the AMC out of the water on all counts in their lawsuit against AMO, Bethel, and others. Here is some of what the Judge said (this was the judge, not Bethel or anyone at ychangenow).

“The court finds Bethel’s and Gremelsbacker’s testimony more credible than Thomas Kelly’s testimony.”

“In previous statements Thomas Kelly made relating to the rigging elections, he did not name Bethel as as person who was aware of this misconduct.”

“In addition, as previously stated Thomas Kelly is a convicted felon while Bethel and Gremelsbacker are not.”

“The court also finds that the evidence supports Gremelsbacker’s contention that he was asked to destroy blank ballots based on the misspelling of a candidate’s name.”

“Having had the benefit of observing the demeanor of the witnesses as they testified in open court, the court finds that the testimony of Defendants Bethel and Gremelsbacker on this issue was more credible than Thomas Kelly’s testimony on this issue.”

“The court finds that Defendants Bethel and Gremelsbacker did not breach their fiduciary duties or aid and abet the McKays in breaching their fiduciary duties with respect to the rigging of elections and referenda in the 1990s.”

When Bethel says these things, Mariner 173 and others respond by calling his comments “mud” and “garbage.” What does Mariner 173 make of the judge’s comments?

The decision is on the AMO website, 24 easy pages of recommended reading. Remember that Tom Kelly copped a plea to a felony count of stealing $35,000 from the AMO before he began corresponding and collaborating with Jack and the AMC on legal matters and political strategy, and remember that this frivolous case cost the AMO $700,000 as a defendant.

223

While I do not pretend to know everything about the lawsuit so frequently quoted by the Bethel Family (it was ongoing during the time I joined AMO), it’s very amusing that the suit is brought up with so much frequency by the Bethel Family. In fact, the officers on my ship have decided to either not vote or to vote AMC because of this. It just goes on and on and on. Quit beating a dead horse!

On the other ongoing issue of reading LM-2s, your post above referencing a MEBA candidate outlining AMO’s gains was lifted from a MEBA member’s website or MEBA member’s forum. So certain people can combine information from various sources, but not others?

Once again, all ychangenow can seem to bring to the table is old news and attack ads. Can you address the concerns members have brought forth on this forum and at the membership meetings? It’s getting old reading the same drivel over and over.

I recently spoke with a former Chief Engineer whom I sailed with a few years back. He has been a D2 and AMO member for 34 years, taking his buyout two years ago. He stands to benefit HUGE from the new DC Plan. He voted for the AMC slate because he believes it is unfair to those who had less than 20 years in. He did his time and was rewarded as promised. A man of integrity, who has come to despise our current leadership, he asked me “how greedy can men get?” I didn’t have an answer. Do you, Tom?

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NewEngr:
Seems to me Hearn is beating the dead horse. Hearn’s been playing the criminal card for four years. I guess posting the judge’s words here makes it tough for you AMC guys to keep distorting history. Why is character assassination by Hearn and the AMC okay, but responses from Bethel and company are “attack ads?”

225

It’s not just Jack and the AMC that play the criminal card. Newsflash, a good majority of the union thinks Bethel and Co. are criminals. Not considering all the things we, the membership, don’t know about, just looking at the pension fiasco puts them in the same category as criminals. They are thieves robbing from the under-20 year members to line their own pockets (at 100% rates).

And in regards to the AMC’s choice of consultants for pension rehabilitation, remember, Steve Nickerson lost our pension but he is still working for AMO. Steve Nickerson was on watch for years before our pension collapsed. If my financial advisor lost my personal savings I would fire them without hesitation. Why do we still have the same person leading us when they have already proven their ineptitude? Then again, it is not fair to put him 100% at-fault, because no matter what his recommendations are, he only does what the Trustees demand.

I can’t vote for criminals (and unethical is the same thing to me). Your time in office is up Mr. Bethel.

226

First off - “Bravo” NewEngr; we need more folks with intestinal fortitude if we are going to “cut out the disease” and begin healing…

In today’s entry, I would like to address the issue of wages, since the issue has been recently discussed in this forum. Specifically, I would like to address the claim by the Bethel Gang that poor Tom has had to suffer with a “minimal” 3% wage increase. I decided to do my own sleuthing in order to find the truth, which I figured was somewhere between what the Hearn camp was saying, and the Bethel Gang. Imagine learning that the incumbents are spinning the truth again. I call B.S.!!

Of particular concern is the Bethel Gang resorting to every kind of political maneuver they can use to sway the membership during the final stages of the election (after all, imagine Tom having to go to work on a lousy contract, working as a WIPER for a Chief Engineer who just had his pension stolen – thus Tom is pulling out all the stops, including cartoon drawings – if I was a cartoonist, I’d submit a photo showing Tom cleaning the bilges of one of the “Honeypot” Tankers in NY Harbor!!).

Personally, I am thoroughly disgusted with their attempts at discrediting – no, not Jack and his slate – but the intelligence of the AMO Membership. I find it hard to read all of the drivel that is being spun by Bethel and his gang, simply because I know enough to realize it is their final attempt at swaying our opinion, in order to continue to rape and pillage the world’s “finest Officers Union”. I am not taking the taking the time to voice my opinion because I am a “Hearn plant”; on the contrary, if there was a choice in this election I might vote for someone other than Jack. However, I feel that AMO members have NO chance of a financial future that is not dictated by Michael Sacco UNLESS BETHEL IS RELEGATED to being a union member who will have to work under the crappy contracts that HE has helped to shove down the AMO member’s throats for these many years (check out Bob Kiefers wage increases the past 3 years if you wish to see what loyalty to the “King” brings)!! I feel the corruption and the inbred contempt that the members are held by Bethel that if EVERY other incumbent loses the election and Bethel remains in power, we have achieved NOTHING. I feel that Bethel is sooooooooo “in bed” with not only the SIU Leadership (yes, I believe the conspiracy theorists who think that SIU’s greatest victory will be to see all AMO Officer’s subjugated to the will and CRAPPY PENSION PLAN of the SIU), that if Bethel is left in office, then the rest of the election matters not, because the “head of the snake” will continue to sliver around, sucking the lifeblood out of every AMO member until they are left feeling like 3rd world sailors………………

I have sat back and monitored the mud slinging, but what really peaked my curiosity was the mention of union official’s wages. I have always felt a little PO’d by the fact that our “annual 3% wage increase” did not always go to us 100%, but that part of it went to support other areas of the union, if determined necessary by someone “other” than who was expecting the total increase in his pay check! What pushed me over the edge was the commentary in the last few days by Bethel’s Gang that he has taken a “meager” 3% increase in his wages. As I mentioned days ago, I do not begrudge anyone being reimbursed for his expenses, thus I am concentrating on “wages” only. The numbers below (taken directly from the WAGE column – meaning NO expenses included - of the Labor Dept LM-2 form) are not for all union officials, but when you see what is recorded, you will see the impact. I may not have majored in math, but I am not as dumb as Mr. Bethel would like to think, because even I can see that Bethel (and a few others) have done quite a bit better than the “meager” 3% per year that the Bethel Gang claims he has received:
2006 2007 % Chge 2008 % Chge 2009 % Chge % Chg ’06-‘09
Bethel $201,962 $230,941 14.35% $284,656 23.26% $321,589 12.97% 59.23%
Cree $129,900 $134,640 3.65% $167,485 24.39% $172,386 2.93% 32.71%
Joe G. $154,654 $155,151 3.20% $169,004 8.93% $181,667 7.49% 17.47%
Kiefer $127,631 $135,337 6.04% $176,967 30.76% $188,739 6.65% 47.88%
Leonard $191,250 $214,231 12.02%
Nilsson $103,070 $104,910 1.79% $113,304 8.00% $121,600 7.32% 17.98%
Shea $122,131 $128,454 5.18%
Weathers $121,566 $130,570 7.41%

Gee Tom, can you really survive on the “meager” 59.23% wage increase you have had since 2006??? Give me that kind of money and I will do your bidding until the cows come home…. Ooooooooops, it looks like all those positions have been taken, since the guys who were IN THE HEARN CAMP LAST ELECTION (and WON) ARE NOW WAVING YOUR FLAG AFTER YOU “PROMISED TO TAKE CARE OF THEM” (THAT post is for another day – no need to embarrass everyone at the same time)………………………

I hope that Tom Bethel truly feels that AMO has the most qualified Officer corps. in the U.S. Merchant Marine, since he is doomed to registering for a job after this election – and that is only if he in fact has an engineering license. There is NO way that any AMO member could vote for Bethel and the gang if they have any sense of self worth or any level of intelligence at all.

How DARE the Bethel Gang insult my intelligence with the satire and the comic strips………. How pathetic. The AMO membership should be OUTRAGED by the lies regarding wages, the use of cartoons and the satire.

If they are lying about data that is EASILY refuted by simply accessing the data from the Dept of labor website – then God knows what else they continue to lie about!!!

Wake up AMO – throw the incumbents out on the street where they belong. Let Bethel and his gang see what it is like to beg for a job from the dispatcher, hoping it is one that actually pays well with decent benefits!! Oh wait – perhaps they can get a job in the phony SMU union! Or how about TAGOS, or DYN Marine, or some of the other cut throat, garbage contracts that we have been forced to work under….

By the way - rumor has it that John Hafner (one of our union officials) stood up to “the power brokers” - because he was AGAINST the Rape of the members Pension Plan! Anybody know what happened to him? I heard he “retired”… hmmmmmmmmmm…

227

Turk 182:
You didn’t have to access the Labor Department site for the AMO’s LM-2. Bethel’s had the LM-2 on the AMO website for three years. It’s called “truth and transparency.”

228

New from ychangenow. What else is Hearn keeping from us?

The Chester County Case

One topic we had not addressed from the Oct. 4 catchall post from Jack Hearn and his AMO Membership Committee (AMC): the Hearn-AMC charge that incumbent AMO officials had filed a “multi-million dollar claim” against Jack and the AMC in a common pleas court in June 2008.

In keeping with the Hearn-AMC tradition, Jack and the AMC provided no specific details about the case. Jack and the AMC did not even summarize the central issue for the benefit of concerned AMO members. But, as always, proper context here would not serve the Hearn-AMC campaign’s political interests.

The action Jack and the AMC referred to was a court-approved attempt to force Jack and the AMC to pay some of the court costs arising from the lawsuit Jack and the AMC had filed against AMO and against me and others in February 2007. At the time, the judge hearing the Hearn-AMC case in federal district court in Fort Lauderdale had already dismissed most of the charges leveled by Jack and the AMC – who went on to lose unequivocally on what was left of their complaint, leaving AMO with more than $700,000 in legal expenses.

Meanwhile, the common pleas court that considered our case in Chester County, Pennsylvania, rendered a judgment against Jack in the amount of $10,000. Jack has not paid even a small portion of the money.

Our action was not in retaliation for the Hearn-AMC lawsuit. It was not intended to punish Jack and the AMC. It was, simply, our effort to have Jack and the AMC assume a fair share of what it had cost us as individuals at that point to prove Jack and the AMC wrong – and it was only right.

A “multi-million dollar claim?” Far from it. But we have not seen a dime of the $10,000, let alone the $700,000 AMO had to cough up because of Jack Hearn and the AMC.

Tom Bethel

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So Hearnia, Turk 182 raises several excellent points and you only come back with referencing AMO’s website vs the DoL? On your Truth and Transparency remark, maybe Bethel could put that to use and answer Turk 182’s questions…truthfully.

I’ve heard enough about this lawsuit already. That seems to be all Bethel’s groupies can come back with.

230

Setting aside all the self destructive infighting for a moment, what is AMO doing about the NPRM that will eliminate the citizenship requirements for those low cost jobs you guys have today?

Is AMO fighting this or will whoever wins simply see it as a way to increase membership?

231

I see comments implying the AMO should have more of the low paying jobs. That’s the attitude that keeps the race to the bottom going with MEBA and MMP. The only answer to the problem of low low wages is unity within the labor unions. This cannot happen unless leaders without self interest are elected. Some say that the chance was missed when the MacKay went to jail but I doubt Bethel, in his new power job would have been inclined to give it up or even share.

[B]This race to the bottom has to stop![/B]

We are suppose to be a Labor Union but instead we are a manning agency. This is insane, I want new blood in office, someone that can do something about the low ass bidding our companies conduct. Someone who understands the hard working men and women we have are working for peanuts. Someone who gives a damn about this so called union we are in and the families our men and woman have. Again this race to the bottom is killing us, our officials are fine with their big fat checks but us, the backbone of the union are getting the short end of the stick. We have caused this mess and it will take us to repair the industry. I want change now!

232

AMO was formed around 1950, with the blessing and financial support of Paul Hall and the SIU. Ray McKay hung up his Taxi driving cap to wear his Union President hat. The union was ruled with an iron fist, and aside from the fact that they can’t physically break members legs when they get out of line anymore, not much else has changed. Having no actual union hall to view open jobs and the wages and benefits attached to those jobs, it has allowed an element of corruption and familiarity with employers that is not seen in other “democratic” unions.

Unless you were one of the unfortunate “dues paying members” who could not get a relief from your Dyn Marine job (or other lowwww paying job), we have been content to sit back and vent our frustrations to our shipmates and when we are home, to our families. All for that wonderful day when we look at our pay vouchers and our pension statement and realize “I’ve got the time needed for the buyout”!!! Whatever methods they used to steal elections and run the malcontents out of town mattered little to us, so long as we saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now that the Trustees, both Union and Employers, have seen fit to “snuff out” the light at the end of tunnel - we are pissed and we have had enough.

The destruction of our Defined Benefit pension plan, and the new plan wherein people like Bethel will enjoy another pension, was conceived out of the Wall Street meltdown. Anyone foolish enough to not see right through the hypocrisy and the lies does not deserve anything but what they have gotten; rats in the kitchen - and little or no retirement future. Just ask the guys who have now received their pension estimate for “whenever the DB Plan is declared Fully Funded”. So far, I have not heard from ONE union member who is not spitting nails at the money that has been lost for their account. Worse yet, this is just an ESTIMATE. I hope the Trustees are better at forcasting the future now, than during the period of January thru April 2009 when the Pension Plan went from NO problems in the next 7 years, to BROKE AND IN THE RED ZONE!!!

If Bethel gets re-elected, then WATCH OUT!!

Forget about all of the nasty barbs back n forth between Bethel and Hearn. The bottom line is, were it not for the fight put up by Jack and his loyal following (ooops - I mean loyal unless you were one of the lucky ones to win the election and then are bought off by Bethel), this so-called transparency would have never seen the light of day. Behind the curtain, where the employers and the union officials get together, not much has changed. It is in the best interests of the employers to keep your wages LOW, and pay MINIMAL benefits in order to compete with the third world merchant marine (yes I know - some of our contracts rival those of third world sailors already). Therefore, you figure it out. Who is going to work for the membership; the guy who was “raised” in the world of corrupt union officials and equally corrupt employers, or the guy who came from the fleet? It’s pretty simple.

Do you think for one minute that Employer Trustees would authorize an accumulated salary increase over 3 years of almost 60% for Bethel, and almost 48% for Kiefer “the Contracts guy” unless they were doing the bidding of Low Wage Employers who wish to keep the status quo?? How much of a wage increase have YOU seen in the past 3 years? Or 10 years for that matter!!!

Come on guys, if you are that ignorant, than I’d like to sell you a Trailer Park in Dania Beach… Ooops, we already bought it!

P.S. Months ago, the AMO rag had an interesting claim of what a wonderful job our leadership did with wage increases on the Maersk Tankers, on a par with other tanker fleets! The problem is, those other tanker fleets were AMO contracts already. Comparing wages between different AMO Fleets is on a par with asking whether you’d rather have a cheap car or a Hundai!!

233

Yeah, what Turk 182, NewEngr, spin, mariner173, and several other members have said on this form–they’ve all said what needs to be said much better than I could. I wonder how worried the incumbents (and those pulling THEIR strings) are about all this? I suspect the REAL union power is wielded somewhere other than in our executive board…and I don’t mean with the companies. I would not be surprised in the least if there were some shenanigans if and when Jack is elected to president. Has anyone actually SEEN our agreement with the SIU? Might it be possible that, if Bethel is voted out, that the SIU might just step in and take over directly?

The current administration needs to go. Just the last paragraph is evidence of that. There should be NO doubt in any member’s mind that EVERYONE in the administration is doing his/her level best to represent the interests of the membership. This doesn’t have to mean contentious, but our “negotiators” have to be willing to show their teeth when necessary. How often has AMO actually negotiated contracts DOWNWARD “to maintain good order in the union”?

Also factor this in–look at how many folks are on this forum calling BS on the administration, and ONE person (despite his denials, is probably on the AMO/Bethel payroll) is defending the administration. I’ve yet to run across a single member who has said, “Hey, those guys in Dania are A-1 crackerjack!”. This includes several who’ve received buyouts and STILL agree the new system is BS.

I know it’s very simple for me–I GOT ROBBED AND I KNOW EXACTLY BY WHO.

234

Oh yeah, and with regards to the Maersk contracts–I understand their “real money” increase wasn’t as large as claimed; mainly they shuffled money around and called it good. Just because they trumpet a “6%” wage increase doesn’t mean they didn’t pull a couple vacation days on the back end to make up for that. Never mind that any wage increases this year are almost a moot point because we’ve lost our pension. We’re not even driving Hyundais at this point–we’re driving Yugos!

235

Brothers and Sisters
I received my lump sum letter today. My net loss is $200,000.00 that’s a lot of zeros and it does not include my loss from investment income for the seven year waiting period. The letter ended “no warranties expressed or implied” just like buying a dock car! I contacted a guy I sailed with in the early eighties. We were hard working deckstuds on the Port of New Jersey /New York tug boats . Life was very good, lots of work out of the NMU and MMP halls. Good money. It’s nice being the best dressed sailor on campus. never gave pensions a second thought… Bill went to NYU and worked Summers and weekends. He earned an accounting degree and an MBA. I landed at Seton Hall and life was even better. Bill has become a fund manager and advises mostly small pensions and wealthy family estates. I sailed and did other stuff. We talk to each other every year or so, depending who is drunk enough tho make the call.
Saturday night was my turn. I ran the pension story by him. Since he is involved with his own work, he did not have a lot of time. He said that he would find time peek around and see what he could find. He asked me these questions.

  1. Why was the decision made to allow SIU members to add their SIU time into AMO time to get their Buy-Out. If the affiliation began in 2006 it would have been logical to include time worked beginning in 2006 but not before. Considering the dire warnings to all retirement funds after the new pension rules were put in place,in 2006, there was No logical reason to throw the vault doors open to members who were as young as 45 when they would have had to work for another seven or eight years in order to meet the 75 year of combined age and service. This action could have caused the collapse. It was probably a $50,000,000.00 pay out, maybe more. Can we get these numbers ? This could have been the biggest factor in the collapse of theDB pension.

  2. Why were all other unlicensed maritime unions excluded ? ( this goes to fairness which is an important pension factor.)

  3. When exactly was the decision made, are the Board of trustees meeting minutes available?

4.Was there an open response period that would have permitted input and comments from all affected parties, including retirees ? I don,t remember a discussion period, I might have missed it.

  1. Why did plans decide to purchase $10,000,000.00 of land from the union when Plans was facing an onslaught of newly created Buy-Outers ? This money could have been directed into the pension plan instead. Bill feels that the IRS would have probably approved it. Had the Union wanted to sell the land they could have put it on the open market and possibly got more money… There is also a catch here, In 2007 pension plans and financial planners had been warned to avoid real estate speculation especially in markets like Miami, Las Vegas, and Southern California where the real estate market was spinning out of control.

  2. Since the stock market decline lasted only eight months why wasn’t the AMO pension better situated to weather this horrible but short storm. Why did this pension survive even worse downturns in the past, but crashed during this one. Where was the cash reserve? Bill figures that the planners made major assumptions changes during the 2007 stock run up. There were apparently industry warnings against doing this. Why didn’t the distribution of lump sum buyout checks to SIU qualified people stop, in January, 2009 during the darkest days of the market crises ? This could have possibly stopped the collapse of the pension fund.

Knock off the name calling and get some real information. I’m assuming that most of what I was told was true. It’s a start. I would like to hear directly from Mr. Bethel and Mr Hearn. If the posters on this site began to ask challanging and intelligent questions and knocked off the hot headed know it all routines and boiled their bitterness down a real purpose maybe we can get a real discussion going here. This is not a game. Make these men answer our questions seriously.
Only 6 of the 14 members I work with regularly have voted. Brother Bethel said he would debate Does Brother Hearn have the stroke to get this information and confront Brother BetheL
There is time. By the way Bill went crazy when I told him about the the new lump sum scheme. He said that they killed it once and killing it again is even easier. Get some real information ask some real questions.
Every four years we have some power. Use It! and keep on using after the election.

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Unta;

Good stuff until the end. I congratulate you on your ability to digest facts and also many thanks to your friend the fund manager! I am a late comer to this forum as far as adding my two cents. However, it is difficult for one to sit back and watch their financial future destroyed by those in power who have obviously lost touch with members who pay their salaries. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. A pretty accurate assessment of the state of the AMO, most probably from its inception.

As I mentioned before, the majority of hard working people are content to sit back and watch others play the politics game and as long as it appears that not too much is stolen, then let it ride until payday and the nice buyout after 20 years. The power brokers have obviously underestimated the anger and determination to right the wrongs that have been done to us. I have never seen so many union members pissed off and informed as there are now. I hope it shows up in the vote.

I’ve said before I know little about Jack Hearn, and in this case I do not need to know anything except that he is running against the status quo that has succeeded in destroying what’s left of our union. If we want to continue to work as if we are slaves on a Plantation, then vote Bethel in again. I figure since he has seen his salary increase by about 20% per year for the last three years, and since we know he earned about $324K in 2009, that means he’s pulling in close to $388K this year? Sure, vote him back in when our wages and benefits remain stagnant and our pensions have been destroyed. Jack Hearn could be blind, deaf and dumb, with no arms and legs - and he is still a better choice - simply because it breaks the chain between the true power brokers behind our union, and the ‘figurehead’ president. Our anger is aimed at Bethel, but it goes way deeper than him in my opinion. Pay low wages, and control the way our union operates from behind the scenes. The Employer Trustees, with the help of the union trustees, have manipulated the numbers and our loyalties for way too long. I agree with you that the mud slinging is counter productive. However, from the standpoint of one who has seen his financial future decimated by a corrupt organization, then I want change, and I care less who it is; Hearn HAS to be better than to continue to allow Bethel to ruin our lives.

That being said, I do not need to hear a debate, nor do I think it fair to assume that someone who is running for election has the time needed to properly prepare, and continue sailing at the same time. Bethel has his ‘minions’ beneath him to do much of his bidding, in spite of what he might say to the contrary (my opinion, of course). Give the new guys a chance, and if we are unhappy with their performance, then vote them out next time around. If we do not change now, there may not BE another election to enact change. I for one am not convinced that a merger with SIU is not in the planning stages (think back to the phony SMU union set up under the AMO umbrella if you don’t think they’d screw us that way). As for gathering information, from what I have read on the AMC website, there is a ton of data that I did not know even existed. In my opinion, they have done an outstanding job over the past few years, and without their efforts (mostly Jack from what I understand), the so called transparency would be a pipe dream. The fact that AMO Plans employees are already receiving contributions from the DC plan tells me the transparency is a farce anyway. AMO is on record as stating the DC Plan does not go in to affect until Jan 1st, 2011. Then why is ANYONE receiving contributions to a plan that does not start for another few months??? (this was previously mentioned in another post, and I have not yet heard ANY rebuttal or explanation from Bethel or anyone else).

What more information do you need to realize that the time is now and it is running short!

We desperately need to change course, and that will NEVER happen as long as the power brokers continue to manipulate us from behind the curtain. Once again I applaud you for your efforts, and thanks to your buddy. Perhaps before this is all over, he can assist in a Class Action suit, in order to hold those responsible for our pension plan’s destruction, personally liable. It is easy to find them; the financial advisors remain on the payroll, as do the executive board members and trustees who allowed it to happen. One step at a time; change course with new faces in office, then go after the scoundrels who stood by and allowed our pension plan to be destroyed…

By the way, as of today I am told that MEBA I Pension Fund remains on solid footing, and is NOT in the red zone. Sure wish I had gone MEBA I when I had the chance! Say what you want about them, but having democratic elections (or at least of semblance of democracy), versus a dictatorship has certainly helped my peers in THAT union collect their buyouts to this day.

237

Just received my lump sum estimate. It is a 200K screwing. Sorrry for being crude, but with no kiss or reach around I find the current administration just plain unappreciative. Time to vote them out before they think I’m easy.

238

[QUOTE=Turk 182;42863]Unta;

Good stuff until the end. I congratulate you on your ability to digest facts and also many thanks to your friend the fund manager! I am a late comer to this forum as far as adding my two cents. However, it is difficult for one to sit back and watch their financial future destroyed by those in power who have obviously lost touch with members who pay their salaries. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. A pretty accurate assessment of the state of the AMO, most probably from its inception.

As I mentioned before, the majority of hard working people are content to sit back and watch others play the politics game and as long as it appears that not too much is stolen, then let it ride until payday and the nice buyout after 20 years. The power brokers have obviously underestimated the anger and determination to right the wrongs that have been done to us. I have never seen so many union members pissed off and informed as there are now. I hope it shows up in the vote.

I’ve said before I know little about Jack Hearn, and in this case I do not need to know anything except that he is running against the status quo that has succeeded in destroying what’s left of our union. If we want to continue to work as if we are slaves on a Plantation, then vote Bethel in again. I figure since he has seen his salary increase by about 20% per year for the last three years, and since we know he earned about $324K in 2009, that means he’s pulling in close to $388K this year? Sure, vote him back in when our wages and benefits remain stagnant and our pensions have been destroyed. Jack Hearn could be blind, deaf and dumb, with no arms and legs - and he is still a better choice - simply because it breaks the chain between the true power brokers behind our union, and the ‘figurehead’ president. Our anger is aimed at Bethel, but it goes way deeper than him in my opinion. Pay low wages, and control the way our union operates from behind the scenes. The Employer Trustees, with the help of the union trustees, have manipulated the numbers and our loyalties for way too long. I agree with you that the mud slinging is counter productive. However, from the standpoint of one who has seen his financial future decimated by a corrupt organization, then I want change, and I care less who it is; Hearn HAS to be better than to continue to allow Bethel to ruin our lives.

That being said, I do not need to hear a debate, nor do I think it fair to assume that someone who is running for election has the time needed to properly prepare, and continue sailing at the same time. Bethel has his ‘minions’ beneath him to do much of his bidding, in spite of what he might say to the contrary (my opinion, of course). Give the new guys a chance, and if we are unhappy with their performance, then vote them out next time around. If we do not change now, there may not BE another election to enact change. I for one am not convinced that a merger with SIU is not in the planning stages (think back to the phony SMU union set up under the AMO umbrella if you don’t think they’d screw us that way). As for gathering information, from what I have read on the AMC website, there is a ton of data that I did not know even existed. In my opinion, they have done an outstanding job over the past few years, and without their efforts (mostly Jack from what I understand), the so called transparency would be a pipe dream. The fact that AMO Plans employees are already receiving contributions from the DC plan tells me the transparency is a farce anyway. AMO is on record as stating the DC Plan does not go in to affect until Jan 1st, 2011. Then why is ANYONE receiving contributions to a plan that does not start for another few months??? (this was previously mentioned in another post, and I have not yet heard ANY rebuttal or explanation from Bethel or anyone else).

What more information do you need to realize that the time is now and it is running short!

We desperately need to change course, and that will NEVER happen as long as the power brokers continue to manipulate us from behind the curtain. Once again I applaud you for your efforts, and thanks to your buddy. Perhaps before this is all over, he can assist in a Class Action suit, in order to hold those responsible for our pension plan’s destruction, personally liable. It is easy to find them; the financial advisors remain on the payroll, as do the executive board members and trustees who allowed it to happen. One step at a time; change course with new faces in office, then go after the scoundrels who stood by and allowed our pension plan to be destroyed…

By the way, as of today I am told that MEBA I Pension Fund remains on solid footing, and is NOT in the red zone. Sure wish I had gone MEBA I when I had the chance! Say what you want about them, but having democratic elections (or at least of semblance of democracy), versus a dictatorship has certainly helped my peers in THAT union collect their buyouts to this day.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Turk, you put all this in perspective, I too wish MEBA was an option. But let me remind you all that the once great MEBA is having issues as well, rumors have it their pension plan is in need of help this year. They were hurt in this economic meltdown plus their president merged our old beloved Interlake contract pensions together. Their self serving tyrant for a president has put the MEBA in serious trouble. His name is Keefe, he has been to jail at least twice while in office for assault (what an embarrassment to the whole Maritime Community to have a president that behaves in this manner). Basically MEBA is the laughing stock in this community now. Also there is a scam that took place called the Altman Report, something about the president having an affair with one of the married members you can read about that here http://maritimejustice.org

Couple of my friends some school pointed out if you look on the right side of that website there is a link called Altman Report. Very interesting and shocking! The funny thing about that website is it has the MEBA President Keefe’s Mug Shot from his last visit to jail. Even Bethal has a hard time to match this clowns activities. But all in all they are both very much the same and our companies are loving this downward spiral of wages in this race to the bottom

Best I can tell the membership has caught him with his hands in the cookie jar and their pissed. If my memory serves me well this Keefe guy is the same guy that was coming on our boats back then as a vice president negotiating a contract and he screwed the whole thing up for MEBA. He really screwed the MEBA as we all know that indecent paved way to a lawsuit, now he has merged Interlakes pension with theirs in 2009 as president without the knowledge of the membership and they are pissed [B](wonder if Bethal and Keefe are cousins)[/B], this has seriously deluded MEBA’s pension and this coming year will not be fully funded anymore. So the MEBA is in serious, serious trouble.

The good part about MEBA is traditionally their membership will wake up and give their president the boot which is what I think and hear is going on now. MEBA has a long history all the way back to the 1800’s and I’m sure they will get this dummy out and correct itself. The reason I have said all this is because we should look at MEBA and let this remind us that we too can overcome this terrible time in our lives. If the MEBA can do this we can also.

From what my friends tell me MEBA had their own forum on it’s website until this Keefe guy took over and started banning members for speaking out against him for his actions. That banning lead the membership to start their own forum to have a word about the unions direction. I can tell you they are just as angry as we are from what I have been reading. Anyway you can see them going through the same thing we are on that forum here:

http://coffeetime.forumcircle.com/index.php

239

Brother View from the Lakes ! I feel your pain and no joy. Alittle Joy liquid would have the surface tension properties we all look for in a proper reaming! I,m trying to gather a consenus of what the members really want after this election. This is my first experience with Union politics., except for voting, Most of what is posted here is so brutal that neither side has presented a cogent reason to vote for their guy. I was hoping more members would come forth and add some light to the heat. This forum could become a very powerful tool for moving ideas to the forfront. If enough of us participated. A movement within a Labor Union helps form the backbone of the organization.
We allowed ourselves to become mystified and entranced by the holy grail of buyouts… If we can come together and encourage more people to join us, we will become a strong voice and an important faction,. I don’t mean an enemy wing but rather an informed resource that presents counterpoints to discussions or to boost good decisions. I still have to believe that we hav a top shelf Union, I’ve worked for several. The idea of the SIU becoming more involved sickens me. If we can form a cohesive voice . Before you know it someone might show us some respect. I know a hundred members and so do you who could do fine work and bring good solid workable ideas to the table. Once this site gets the browsers to post, we’ll be getting somewhere.
Time to create a real union !
Safe Sailing

240

Since comments and comparisons regarding MEBA keep popping up here I feel that as a MEBA member I won’t be too far out of line to comment as some of the issues in this thread are common to all “rank and file” sailing members.

To begin, we have the leadership we asked for. We are not getting what we are paying for or, for me at least, hoped we were electing. It might be a cliché but the plea for “change now” is probably more critical to the members of maritime unions than anyone else in this country. There aren’t many of us left and we are under attack by business interests, corrupt politicians, maritime regulators, and our own failed leadership.

We desperately need a fundamental and profound change in the way our unions operate and are managed, or mismanaged in fact. We have no one to blame for the corruption and incompetence that defines our leadership. We elect our executives because they are either our personal friends or we have illusions of benefiting from having worked with them at some point. We elect so an so because he was a good shipmate, fun to run ashore with, or has the attributes of a good streetfighter. We believe these people will take the fight to the company board room and demand a fair deal for the membership.

We couldn’t be more deluded if we believed in mermaids. None of us got into the marine industry because we had aspirations of becoming a leader of industry or a shipping company CEO. We are here because we are sailors, engineers, blue collar mechanics, and probably just don’t care much for kind of work offered in the shops and offices ashore. But for some bizarre reason, we believe that a good chief engineer can take off his boiler suit and become the chief executive of a billion dollar corporation with thousands of employees. Not only that but we, and this same guy think he can walk into the board room of a shipping company and deal with its occupants as equals. We are truly delusional and this entire thread details very, very clearly the costs of that collective disorder.

The change I wish to see is for us to run our union the same way the corporations on which we depend for our livelihood run themselves. They don’t select their CEO from the loading dock, they don’t elect a chairman of the board based on his golf score. If we are to deal with the heads of industry on an equal basis we have to hire from the same pool as they do. We need to hire leaders who come from the same schools, the same neighborhoods, the same work history, and who have the same goals as those he will deal with on our behalf. We already pay for first class leadership, it is time we got it.

Hiring professionals to manage our own corporation doesn’t mean you and I lose control or input. The board of directors would be made up of sailing members, elected by the sailing members, paid the same as they would make if they were at sea for the duration of their service on the board, no more, no less. They would represent the sailing members, they would represent you and me, not their own agenda or to repay the favor bestowed by the official who appointed them.

As it is, the thugs and street fighters we send in to negotiate for us only provide a humorous diversion and a bit of profitable sport for professional businessmen. We are seen as buffoons, and our contracts reflect the quality of leadership we selected to represent us.

We can’t afford this any longer. It may well be too late now. While the leadership of MEBA and AMO is rolling around in the gutters they came from, the shipping companies, the pig farmers of North Carolina, and others who have not stopped lobbying for an end to the Jones Act and the destruction of the American merchant marine have quietly and very cleverly purchased an indulgence from Congress and the USCG which will effectively eliminate nearly every one of us from the ocean transportation industry.

While you complain about the amount of money your last generation of elected officials took from your pocket, the comment period for the regulation that will permit your replacement by a third world officer is quickly passing. You are bleeding to death while you argue about who is to blame for stealing your pension. You need a job before you can accrue pension credits and your leadership and mine are quietly cutting our throats. They don’t sail, they can’t lose. They will make just as much if not more money from a Slovenian sailor as from you. They will probably get a little Christmas gift for not even telling you what they have allowed to happen.

Why have the American marine officer’s unions been so quiet? Are our “leaders” so incredibly stupid that they never bothered to look at the avalanche that is about to destroy us? Do they look at this as an opportunity to recruit masses of Eastern European officers to swell the ranks of dues paying members who will be delighted to work under third world contracts? Have they colluded with the shipping companies to develop those new contracts under which no American seafarer can afford to work? Can you leave home for 12 months, with no benefits, no medical, no pension (as if AMO has one anymore anyway) and no vacation for $3000 per month? Our replacements would love a 12 month contract, they don’t need insurance, their home country provides health care benefits and pensions that only existed in the US when union leaders worked for the members. As a member of what was once seen as America’s premier maritime union, I don’t feel like the leadership is working for me, I am treated as if I worked for them.

Perhaps AMO members don’t have as much to lose, third world contracts are already part of your life but the downward pressure your “leadership” has imposed on the rest of us in the industry is hard to swallow. It appears that we all might cross the finish line at the same time unless we stop fighting each other for a week or two. The race to the bottom is beginning to look like a tie.