I think the USMM would look great as long as the new ‘MegaUnion’ had the following features:
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Defined Contribution pension plan. I for one am sick and tired of the ‘give us your money now and we’ll take care of you in 20 years (we promise)’ model. I’ll take my chances with an index fund in an account in my own name thank you very much.
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Provide incentive to sail on your license. 1 seniority point for sailing AS-E/D, 2 points for 3E/3M, 3 points for 2E/2M, etc. It’ll be tough to be a career 3rd when you’re constantly getting passed up by those willing to sail up.
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The leadership structure must be very carefully designed to not have an inherent conflict of interest. For example, in my union, the top three elected officials are also on the board of trustees for the pension plan. If it should become fiscally necessary to cut the pension plan benefits, those individuals would be cutting their own pension as well as ensuring they won’t get re-elected. Think that’s going to happen? (another reason to have a DC pension plan).
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As mentioned earlier in this thread, an all-in-one hiring hall including job dispatching, lodging, union admin offices and classrooms for training. I would expect night work to continue to go away so there’d only be a need for one hall on each coast and maybe one in Houston. Once again, lowering the overhead of the organization.
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No union “clinics”. Contracts state that if you hold a valid USCG medical certificate, (which is available for ~$100 every other year) then you’re good to ship. If a company wants something more and the union agrees to put it in the contract, then that company foots the bill for the additional exam.
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We should use our pool of talent for other things besides manning ships. We should strive to provide all the services that currently get farmed out to contractors. These include but are not limited to generator overhauls, piston pulls, torque wrench calibrations, rigging gear certifications, fire extinguisher and fire suppression system certifications, lifeboat/raft/FRB certifications, etc. Once we had a pool of talent and a shop that could accomplish these tasks, the opportunity for work for this arm of the union would expand to other industries beyond the union contracted vessels and thus diversify our organization.
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Have a method in place to get rid of dead weight. I know this is an area rife with potential for lawsuits, but there HAS to be a way to cull the herd legally. I’m all about 2nd chances…it’s the 6th and 7th and 10th chance crowd I’m talking about.
I’m sure there’s more but that’s what I can come up with now. The overriding themes are to ENcourage personal initiative and drive and to DIScourage laziness and mediocrity. Also to decentralize power from the union officials and centralize it to the union members.