great advice right there…pick a job that is creditable toward sailing, be out in 4 years, go to an academy for free.
The key is to not get married or knock anybody up during those 4 years. That’s a worse trap than SIU.
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As I mentioned before, I’m not in disagreement, but Just trying to let people know that there are really good contracts in the SIU with excellent pension plans. Why bash the union as a whole? These jobs do take a little more to obtain, but they’re there. Maybe I’m a fool for sticking around and maybe I’ll pay for it down the road but for now I feel stable.
All schools have financial aid. No one pays the full retail price on the tag. Student loans are readily available to anyone, and academy grads make more money faster, have shoreside job options, and have a good track record for finding decent jobs and paying back their loans.
SIU school at Piney Point is for the unlicensed ratings, not for becoming an officer. The useful thing you get is B book in the union.
The SIU pensioners I’ve known brought in truly paltry sums for a lifetime of work.
I checked with the Navy and they want 5 years and then I’d have to spend 4 years in school. At AMO it’s 2 years to be 3 A/E. It seems like a better deal but not if they don’t have jobs.
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Agree there. I comment only from my own experience in the Army. I don’t know what the Navy or USCG have, except that I have heard that neither the USN nor USCG actually license their Engineers or Deck side personnel. The Army does. The US Army Maritime Instructional Training Directorate (MITD) is an official USCG-Approved training facility.
So if you go Active Duty Army, you can sign up for 88L (Watercraft Engineer) or 88K (Watercraft Operator). You get trained, get sea time on any number of vessels (warping tugs to LSV), and get paid to do so. Your training certificates and sea time are used to get your USCG licenses. If you want to become a Vessel Master or Chief Engineer, you can apply for Warrant Officer Candidate School. They’re kind of desperate these days, having just grabbed all the Reserve Component’s vessels, and don’t have enough qualified (Licensed) people to crew them. The only drawback is the B.S. that comes with being in the Army; although in the Maritime field, that B.S. is minimized.
Then if/when you get out, you have the G.I. Bill to get any training that the Army does not have. Not a bad deal.
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My #3 grandson is stationed in Hawaii. He’s making it a career and will bet set pretty good when he retires under 40. I think he’s an E6. He has AB unlimited, 100 ton master and 200 ton mate of towing. Not a bad deal.
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I don’t know about you but I pay in $0.
@injunear, what are your thoughts?
On the surface, that does seem like a really good deal. So, from off the street with no experience to 3AE-Unlimited in two calendar years? That’s pretty amazing.
As always, the devil is in the details…that 5 year commitment that goes along with this program…is that 5 calendar years or 5 years of seatime? Can you say no to a job assignment or does turning down a job constitute breaking your commitment? What is the penalty for not giving them the 5 years? How much would you have to pay back?
Full disclosure, I sail with MEBA, so I don’t know much about AMO. I have heard that they have some REALLY bad contracts there (any AMO guys, please chime in on this). Only first hand experience I had was when we had to get an AMO 1AE on my tanker because we couldn’t fill the job. He said his wages as a MEBA 1AE were a 30% increase from what he was getting as CE over there.
That’s a snapshot and not the full picture, but I would mine any info I could about what AMO is requiring from you prior to signing on the dotted line.
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I’m not sure how the deep sea pension is calculated but when I retired 10 years ago, I think $1500 was the max back then. The inland pension is wage related with 2 for 1 contributions. We had top tier insurance then that had to be re-adjusted because it was ruled a “cadillac” plan under obumercare. Dues back then was $600. The grade of insurance was negotiated each contract and paid by the company.
When I retired, the pension was funded 110%. I just got my annual funding notice and in 2018, it was 143%.
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Thanks for the advice. What is the MEBA? Do they have an apprentice program? It’s a calendar year - you work 180 days per calendar year for 5 years.
AMO, definitely.
Almost for a certainty. SIU has very few officer contracts at all and since they’re almost universally small vessels they pay less than large ships.
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It’s another officer shipping union (link already posted), and no, we do not have an apprenticeship program unfortunately.
Honestly, if you can truly go from off the street to a 3AE-Unlimited in 2 calendar years, I would do it. Even if they assign you the worst contracts they have (which I assume they will), you’ll still make ~$60k a year at least for those 5 years (I would hope and assume). By then, you’ll have your 2AE for sure and 1AE if you pursue it with the union having paid for all the required classes as well as others that are not required but good to have. (take a look at their school website:
it seems to be a very good facility.)
At the end of that 5 years, you’ll have leverage. If they won’t offer you one of their good contracts, you can walk.
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Just read the program summary:
https://www.star-center.com/techprogram/techprogram.html
One thing to note is that you’ll be receiving cadet wages while onboard and “a limitied stipend” while onshore during the 2 year process. Just know that those will likely add up to a very paltry sum so I would recommend you to be debt free with no financial obligations when you start this program.
Other than that, I’d say go for it. It is a very unique program that is very forward thinking on the part of AMO.
“You go to class even when sick.”
Sounds like a real treat, AMO…
I’m 18 - no debt and I live at home. A small stipend is better than thousands in debt going to college. I got my MMC yesterday. I’m committed to working in the field I just need to figure out the better path - AMO or Piney Point.
If those are the only two options you’re considering, then it’s AMO’s option in a landslide in my opinion. Best of luck and by all means, come back to this forum and update how it goes.
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I looked at the Navy and the academies and hawespiping through the different schools like Sea School. The free apprenticeship programs seem like my best option unless you can recommend something else.
IIRC, all the shitty sweetheart contracts have been rewritten and pay rates significantly upper. I don’t think there are any really shitty AMO contracts anymore even in the prepo ships.