I am considering joining AMO or MMP. My 3rd Mate’s license was just issued. I was wondering if anyone here can give some good advice on what union is the best for landing work. Any help would be greatly appreciated before I throw down what little money I have left to join one of them.
My first advice to anyone new on this forum is to first do a search! We have covered this topic [I][B]many times[/B][/I].
I don’t know about MMP but I do know a thing or two about AMO.
This past year their pension plan was devastated. So now in order to retire from the union you must either work for twenty years, then wait until age 65 to get your money or, work till you are age 65, then retire.
The upside to the union is that they have a really good, accredited school.
I’m wondering if this union will survive.
I have not sailed union that much mostly because I am a limited tonnage officer. But I will say this. I belong to the union of myself. Any union I have ever belonged to has not been able to save my job when the company was laying off or going out of business. I am not anti union but I am not pro union.
If I am not happy with my working conditions, pay, benefits, or anything else I find someone else to work for.
Even in the unions it is not as much what you know as who you know. I have seen this demonstrated time and time again.
Don’t fork out that initiation fee unless you have an inside connection. Otherwise you will be a few hundred bucks poorer and still sitting on the bank.
[SIZE=2][CENTER][B][U][FONT="]$5000.00 Donation
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[CENTER][B]from the Inland Boatmen’s Union[U]<o></o>[/U][/B]
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[CENTER][B]November 16, 2009<o></o>[/B]
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Delegates to the 21<sup>st</sup> Convention of the Inland Boatmen’s Union of the Pacific unanimously approved a resolution in support of the KOSNAC strike and approved a declaration of mutual aid among maritime unions, including Local 333<o></o>[U]<o></o>
[/U] The IBU backed up the resolution with a check for $5000 from the Puget Sound Regional Towboat Fighting Fund. The entire check will be divided equally between the five (5) KOSNAC Brothers performing picket duty daily since the strike began as requested by IBU President, Alan Cotè.<o></o><o></o>
Local 333 will present the five (5) separate checks for $1000 each on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, for a photo opportunity as part of a show of gratitude to our brother mariners of the IBU. Our Union Brothers who have held the line for all of us of 333 are Jim Beatty, Kenny O’Rourke, Chris Donadio, George Brill, and Tom Cheney. The generous support of our brother mariners from the West Coast will go a long ways to assist the families of these stalwart men.<o>
</o><o></o><o></o>A word of special thanks to IBU President Alan Cotè, and IBU Business Agent, Stuart Downer, genuine Union Men who back their words with ability, action, and money.
From- http://www.333umd.org/
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Having sailed union and non-union I can say my union experience was good and my non-union experience ranged from rotten to very good. However, I do know that the non-union companies for the most part base their compensation on the current union compensation in order to hopefully keep the unions out. I also know that practically all the protections we as mariners enjoy are due to the unions fighting for the mariner in the past and they continue to do so. The ship owners do not want unions for two primary reasons…the pension fund and healths benefits. Ship owners do not want to pay into a pension fund that they cannot control or use as collateral neither do they want to pay more than the minimum for health benefits. Though the unions have their set of crooks, so do many shipping companies.The difference is the union members can vote their crook out. The shipping companies have their professional organizations and lobbyists so why shouldn’t the working mariners? While I am neither pro nor con union I keep in mind the United States of America is a union.
tengineer
I with MEBA now and I do enjoy the work that we have out of New York. I have yet to get a shipping job out with them, but I have been getting plenty of daywork and night engineer jobs out of the hall each week that pay very well and keep me working while me shipping card ages. So I would have to say that it’s worth it.
The AWO is a union that serves the company owners’ political and financial interests but mention an employee union south of the Mason-Dixon line and you’re liable to get blacklisted. A bit two-faced, I think.
There’s still a few unionized companies in the South. Just none in the oilfield, with the exception of a few Crowley tows.
The “non-existent blacklist” has been around since the early '70s when the unions had some success in the west coast oilfields.
[quote=injunear;23555]There’s still a few unionized companies in the South. Just none in the oilfield, with the exception of a few Crowley tows.
The “non-existent blacklist” has been around since the early '70s when the unions had some success in the west coast oilfields.[/quote]
The GOM companies should be successful in the keeping the unions out as long as they don’t shoot themselves in the foot with paranoia. If their radical anti union fevor were replaced by a better management training fevor they’d have nothing to fear.
I’ve worked both union and non-union jobs. Good and bad in both categories. Good communication and mutual respect seems to make the difference.
Exactly! - At the end of the day, it’s all dependant on the Mariner . . A good mariner will do well at either a Union or a non-Union job . . One of the biggest problem is that a large number of both union and non union sailors don’t have the slightest idea of what a Union can or cannot do for them, and how it actually affects their relationship with their employer.
IOMMP is the better bet as a union. I’m retired since '96 so I have no current info as to shipping. First rate school and medical. There are a few Kings Pointers with insufferable attitudes but most are good guys.
Hey, I think that I am supposed to be pissed off about that remark. . . .
AMO is in the red on their pension and so is MM&P. Rumor is that MEBA will dip into the yellow before the end of the 2nd quarter… Now what?
Naaah…only if he calls you a “jap” Kingspointer with an insufferable attitude.
Oh, okay. But two out of three ain’t bad. . . .
Ïðûãàéòå â íåãî è èäèòå íàëåâî. Ïîëíàÿ ïîääåðæêà DirectX 9, 10 è 11 Áëàãîäàðÿ ïðîãðàììíîìó ÿäðó Frostbite òàíêè, ñàìîëåòû è âçðûâû îæèâàþò íà ýêðàíå âàøåãî êîìïüþòåðà, ãàðàíòèðóÿ ïîëíîå ïîãðóæåíèå â ìèð Battlefield. Íå áóäü ó ïðîòàãîíèñòà ñòîëüêî ïðîáëåì, òðóäíî ñåáå âîîáðàçèòü ëó÷øåå ìåñòî äëÿ îòäûõà. Äâà ðàáîòîðãîâöà, áóäóò ñòðåëÿòü âàñ, åñëè íå óäàñòñÿ ñ íèìè ïîãîâîðèòü br6.
“Banned” Thank you…
I never worked for a union but some of my family worked for IUOE Local 25 Marine Division and thought it was joke. They said they hated it because they could never get rid of the sick,lame, and lazy. I have worked around some of the other IUOE Locals in Boston and those guys loved it. “they got 3 breaks a day and they took all 6 of them” I have worked in the Gulf for 11 years never been layed off never missed a check.