[QUOTE=c.captain;154364]you get the deal you deserve by thinking and acting the way y’all do in your little ol’ swamp
I will say for myself that while I am not…
Will all of you now wake up the the reality that you are nothing to JB that an expendable ox is what I am wondering these days?[/QUOTE]
Two things: I don’t care who joins the union, what I do care about is that I would be FORCED to join with them and they would FORCE me to pay them. I chose not to join. The second thing is that I know I am an expendable ox and I govern myself accordingly. Again, that’s my choice. I have heard just as much good things about unions as I have heard bad things. Just the same with private employers and corporate giants. But what I will never concede is my choice to work under my terms.
Been there, done that with unions. Never again. I got tired of the calls from Dania saying “we notice you didn’t ‘donate’ to the PAF with your vacation pay. We took care of it for you and took out $250 for you.” F the unions and their sweetheart contracts and RICO indicted presidents.
[QUOTE=jbtam99;154377]Been there, done that with unions. Never again. I got tired of the calls from Dania saying “we notice you didn’t ‘donate’ to the PAF with your vacation pay. We took care of it for you and took out $250 for you.” F the unions and their sweetheart contracts and RICO indicted presidents.[/QUOTE]
now you are letting the one bad apple spoil the whole barrel…
nobody here will condemn the AMO and the SIU more harshly than I because I have been shaken down and strong armed by their thugs myself. However, the concept of collective bargaining and representation is not such a terrible thing when suddenly Joe Boss is serving that proverbial “shit sandwich” to his oxen to eat! Yet, I seem to be very alone in believing this here. What the US needs are new better maritime unions where the interests of the rank and file come before the interests of the union leaders but that is a whole separate discussion waiting for us to have here.
[QUOTE=c.captain;154379]now you are letting the one bad apple spoil the whole barrel…
nobody here will condemn the AMO and the SIU more harshly than I because I have been shaken down and strong armed by their thugs myself. However, the concept of collective bargaining and representation is not such a terrible thing when suddenly Joe Boss is serving that proverbial “shit sandwich” to his oxen to eat! Yet, I seem to be very alone in believing this here. What the US needs are new better maritime unions where the interests of the rank and file come before the interests of the union leaders but that is a whole separate discuss waiting for us to have.[/QUOTE]
SIU port agent hinted strongly to me that I’d have a tough time shipping out of the hall unless I was a graduate of their program (Pall Hall). This makes no sense…I thought they weren’t supposed to discriminate amongst members like that. Has anyone else heard such a thing?
[QUOTE=catherder;154405]They want almost 600 bucks for their own drug screen and physical, too. I’ve never paid that much for a physical.[/QUOTE]
That’s for your first physical. After that, the annual physicals, drug screen and benzene test are free. Also in retirement, you get a complete physical and blood work annually.
And yes when you come out of the trainee program, you have B seniority.
[QUOTE=injunear;154407]That’s for your first physical. After that, the annual physicals, drug screen and benzene test are free. Also in retirement, you get a complete physical and blood work annually.
And yes when you come out of the trainee program, you have B seniority.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info- he wasn’t super clear on that. I have a full book (fee waived due to federal service) with C seniority.
I’ll sock the money aside and give it a go when I get home.
[QUOTE=catherder;154405]They want almost 600 bucks for their own drug screen and physical, too. I’ve never paid that much for a physical.[/QUOTE]
My employers always pay for my preemployment physicals and drug screens. I sometimes have pay for the USCG. A standard USCG physical is under $200. A drug test is under $100. Employers and unions get a cheaper rate. Most of that $600 goes right into Joe Union Boss’s pocket to pay for his bar tap and sugar babies.
Cycles come and go.
Work well and learn something new every day.
Be kind and listen as a good shipmate.
Stick with the happy people, which is a little hard to do here…
Make your opportunities, like lots here over the years have done.
Live within your means and save when times are fat.
[QUOTE=jbtam99;154377]Been there, done that with unions. Never again. I got tired of the calls from Dania saying “we notice you didn’t ‘donate’ to the PAF with your vacation pay. We took care of it for you and took out $250 for you.” F the unions and their sweetheart contracts and RICO indicted presidents.[/QUOTE]
I have been working with Dania and before that Brooklyn since 1988. I never heard a word about me not paying PAF. Dues absolutely, PAF not a damn thing. I used to hear stories that people claimed they couldn’t get a job because they didn’t pay PAF. In my experience, those claims are BULLSHIT.
Personal experience here. I literally had PAF forms filled out and submitted for me. I was permanent on my tanker, so I didn’t worry about not being able to ship, but I still lost big chunks of money that I didn’t want to. I also had a day rate of $115 a day as a 3rd mate, which my present employer nearly tripled 10 years ago, and has increased much faster than the 3% a year that OSI and AMO gave me. So no… I don’t want anything to do with the current generation of cronies of the McKay brothers or Bethel.
[QUOTE=lm1883;154430]Watched it happen many times in the AMO. Those claims are true. Or how bout the old days when Doug Heller used to sell flashing light certs. He told me “50 bucks” I laughed my ass off. I read your post and really had a good chuckle.[/QUOTE]
I have many stories about Doug Heller. I don’t remember him having anything to do with flashing light. All I remember Doug having anything to do was HAZMAT or as it was called back in the day “HAZNAP”.
[QUOTE=jbtam99;154426]Personal experience here. I literally had PAF forms filled out and submitted for me. I was permanent on my tanker, so I didn’t worry about not being able to ship, but I still lost big chunks of money that I didn’t want to. I also had a day rate of $115 a day as a 3rd mate, which my present employer nearly tripled 10 years ago, and has increased much faster than the 3% a year that OSI and AMO gave me. So no… I don’t want anything to do with the current generation of cronies of the McKay brothers or Bethel.[/QUOTE]
I wonder who “filled out” the PAF form for you? I have little contact with anyone at the union. I also have a permanent job. The only contact I have with the union is that I email my vacation application to them and I call dispatch to tell them when I go back to work. It has been that way for at least 15 years for me. It is hard for me to remember much past that as old-timers is a bitch.
I argued and said I didn’t want to “donate” to SPAD back in the day. Guess what the patrolman said it wasn’t an option the “donation” was mandatory fuck those people…
[QUOTE=jbtam99;154426]Personal experience here. I literally had PAF forms filled out and submitted for me. I was permanent on my tanker, so I didn’t worry about not being able to ship, but I still lost big chunks of money that I didn’t want to. I also had a day rate of $115 a day as a 3rd mate, which my present employer nearly tripled 10 years ago, and has increased much faster than the 3% a year that OSI and AMO gave me. So no… I don’t want anything to do with the current generation of cronies of the McKay brothers or Bethel.[/QUOTE]
Wow, maybe as much as $10k/mo on AMO tankers as a 3/M in 2005!
I guess that means I was just grossly overpaid making the same on MOC tankers in 1997, and all without any dues, etc to pay! Woe is me! Where does AMO come up with these amazing wages?!
[QUOTE=c.captain;154459]GOOD LORD! You people are all just repeating the same blather back and forth to each other like some mindless echo chamber.
somebody bump this record player…the needle is stuck![/QUOTE]
Seriously?!
You are throwing down the “broken record” card…
CC, time to change your avatar to the RCA dog, Nipper.
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[QUOTE=jbtam99;154458]To top that off, paid OT was capped at 36 hrs a week. Don’t miss the union one bit. I do miss the runs all over WESTPAC, but that I can live without.[/QUOTE]
That wasn’t a union jab.
It was a WTF else would you expect from AMO…