Seriously, why don’t the mariner unions ever dabble with strikes?
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cause “blah blah blah anit-strike clause in contract” etc etc. Or whatever.
More realistically, union bosses don’t give a shit about the contracts because it doesn’t affect them. And they get to expense the drinks.
Heard a great idea: each union boss should get paid based on the shittiest contract in his jurisdiction. You just signed a shitty contract with OSG? Enjoy the shit pay!
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I was at the transcom conference early this year and senior reps from each if the unions were talking.
I butted in and asked this very question
They literally laughed at me
But I wasn’t joking and told them
They didn’t have a good answer. I told them they could at least hold a meeting to discuss the possibility of future strikes. I think that would out them in a much better negotiating position than literally laughing at anyone who asks.
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And do forget all the black tie award dinners where they win participation trophies and where everyone tells them what great citizens they are
They do/ have but it’s risky.
One reason is because all the companies have their contracts expiring at different times. It’s not like the ILA that has one contracts for multiple ports and can strike at once. Also half the ships would be overseas and people wouldn’t be able to effectively get off the vessels. And there are enormous legal and logistical hurdles. Going on strike isn’t easy nor is it cheap. It should be used and always has been used as a last resort. But I agree there are times where it should be done.
Idk what union reps you went up to but if you went up to the three officer Unions I am not surprised they laughed at you.
AMO, MEBA and MMP have rotated throughout their history of who is going to undercut and who is going to walk by the other’s picket fence.
AMO and MEBA had been fighting in years past now they are in good terms unfortunately MMP has decided it’s their turn in history to be the undercuters and to not play nice.
Better question to ask is why hasn’t MMP put Patriot’s feet to the fire and forced a strike if they are refusing to sign the tripartite agreement regarding wages for the MARAD RRF ships?
All AMO and MEBA top to bottom companies sign on to the new MARAD wages. If MMP is going to undercut, destroying the tripartite agreement is not a good move for our industry. I suggest doing a story that.
There’s stories to be written about the unions with some digging. For example, the MEBA president is running unopposed a first in a long time. A younger AMO president has recently taken the reigns and I have heard made some positive changes. The MMP president is stepping down. Etc etc etc
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I would also like to see anti-strike language taken out of the contracts. It should automatically expire when the contract expires and the company won’t sign a deal, even though the guys keep showing up to work.
Where I am, we are now nearly 14 months past our last contract expiration. The company did a 3% raise 14 months ago, and another 3% raise last month. When the original contract was proposed with straight 3% raises, it was voted down at a nearly 100% rate. If a strike was on the table, it would be strongly considered.
I feel like only a week would put such a squeeze on their revenue that a 4 or 5% raise wouldn’t look so bad in comparison. But it’s not even a possibility, and we are left to wait for the scraps that our toothless union picks up from the company.
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We no longer have a big surplus of credentialed, but unemployed and underemployed mariners.
These days, the employers won’t be able to find enough scabs to break a strike or do a lock out.
It’s been 40 years since Moran and MacAllister crushed Local 333 in NY with scabs from the South. Times have changed. But the maritime unions never managed to grow back a pair of balls.
We need at least the same deal as the airline pilots, 10% per year for five years in order to regain the buying power that we have lost. 10% should be the minimum annual increase.
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What you say is absolutely true today, without a doubt with some southern OSV/Gulf Tug mariners making twice as much as NY harbor tug mainers. But never underestimate the fickleness of the oil & gas sector & the US economy in general. In 2, maybe 3 quarters, half of all GoM mariners could be laid off. I’ve seen it happen too many times before to think otherwise.
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"This marks the first time in the history of the RFA that officers will undertake strike action.
“Our members are fed up. For too long, the RFA, the Royal Navy, and the Ministry of Defence have relied on the goodwill of our members to carry out essential operations. The pay offer for 2023/24 and the real term pay cut of over 30% since 2010 has made this goodwill no longer tenable,” said Martyn Gray, Nautilus director of organising."
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I think the membership is pretty happy with Adam Vocak. Same with Adam Smith. Vocak is a far cry from Marshall Ainley. Obviously I don’t speak for anyone else but there is not too much grumbling going on about leadership. They can always do more and opposition keeps them from becoming complacent but Adam seems to be one of the good ones.
Adam’s a nice guy but ZERO interactions with the press and didn’t bother to show up to what I believe was the most important workshop for our cause in my lifetime.
Massive FAIL
I would love to report on all the great things MEBA is doing and help get the word out to our millions of readers on the issues that are important to you… but Adam has not invited us to one event. Ever.
We just had 4 years of the most pro-union president in a half-century - airline, teamsters, longshoreman, etc - leveraged that for huge pay increases and benefits not just from employers but government itself. And those union members aren’t getting shot at in the Red Sea.
What has Adam gotten you? Name one time he pushed back on MARAD?
Has even pushed back on the USCG to get medical certs issues in a reasonable time?
A union president’s job is to fight for you.
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John, How are you? I don’t know the behind the scenes politics as you do. I’m just a guy who goes to work and goes home and tries to take care of the guys around me. All I was stating is there is less grumbling than in times past and Adam running unopposed seems to me that most guys are ok with him. Stay safe…
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Yes… we have entered a world where kindness is valued most of all as is minding your own business and not rocking the boat
Just head home and enjoy a drink!
I joke but I see the appeal. There could certainly be worse outcomes.
I think what people forget is that the officers unions are supervisory unions and have rather fewer rights than what we traditionally think a union has. The tanker companies took that to court back in the 80‘s and clipped the wings of MEBA & MMP big (big) time. Anybody still alive that remembers all that ?
Think of it all more as a voluntary association that saves the employers some hassles with training and pension funds.
That’s why the maritime unions in US are softies. Unlicensed unions a different story.
What @_A465B says is entirely true. As I recall in the MEBA’s standard contract back then, it explicitly stated we were considered supervisors under the NLRA. Back in the 80’s the MEBA understood this AND were very well aware of the number of engineers (and mates) looking for work at the time. The pay cuts were a hard pill to swallow but once jobs are lost it is very difficult to get them back. It is one of those situations where one needs to be aware of certain realities and play the long game. The MM&P attempted to strike, were replaced, and ended up losing all those tanker jobs.
He literally just got me a check for all the restricted pay that MARAD/ Keystone was refusing to pay during an activation. A lot of us filed a grievances during the activations during 2021 and he pushed back and fought for us. He’s also pushed back on MARAD recently for refusing ROS/FOS pay that they were refusing and got that too.
I’ve heard the union has reached out to contacts at the USCG to get union membership med certs pushed through who need it to work.
Exactly, it’s to fight for us. Not necessarily to fight for everyone else or talk to a news outlet like yourself.
I’m happy with the work he’s doing.
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You must be looking for a shoreside job carrying Adam’s bag.
I don’t know anything about Adam. Nor do I have any opinion on him.
Once upon a time, everyone knew who Jessie M. Calhoun was, and that he was a force to be reckoned with. He had most Congressmen on speed dial. In those days, MEBA’s JMC (Joint Maritime Congress, which coincidentally shared Jesse’s initials) was the second largest lobby after the NRA. Jessie Calhoun certainly put MEBA First (well, after himself), but he also was a public relations showman that understood that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that made MEBA bigger and stronger.
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Yet here you are, making a snarky comment about what the previous poster’s underlying ambitions are without knowing anything about him either.
For those who didn’t know the guy
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That’s a nice 2013 obituary for Jesse Calhoun. The last exemplary maritime union leader.
The fact that I had never even heard of Adam Kokak until recently, and that he appears to keep a very low profile, indicates that he’s not cut from the same sail cloth as Jesse Calhoun.