Worked with MM&P inland group and SUP contracted companies part time. Great experience. In my opinion good unions with good benefits for the membership. The 5 years I sailed SIU as a licensed officer from mate to master was a miserable experience dealing with a “union”. The company did more for us to improve our contract than the “union”. Constantly being harassed to pay into the SPAD when it came time to collect vacation pay. Fighting for over a year with them to go to upgrading courses guaranteed in our contract. Watching them constantly wiggling out of other people attending upgrading courses. On top of that crap medical insurance for what the company was paying them. Looking at the good money the company was throwing at them for sub par benefits I saw as lost forms of compensation. Also, I was under no illusion that much pension would be there in 30 years for me if at all.
Paying to deal with all that BS was the main reason I left a job that I really enjoyed. I don’t find my current line of work quite as engaging, but if am working for a good GOM boat company with better benefits and pay higher than the union scale I was working under. I have worked with many former AMO officers and understand they are not much better for mostly the same reasons. I have experience with a few non union companies as well aside from my current one. One good and one bad. The reality is if you are in a good union that does something for you besides take your money and enjoy your work then stick with it. If not leave. Similarly if you are working for a quality non-union company that takes care of you and you enjoy the work then stick with them. I have never understood being vehemently pro or anti union ideologically speaking without firsthand experience. My two pennies.
Actual union…
I had full B book hate to know how bad the C cards had it…
Sat on the beach toward the end because I wouldn’t buy jobs being sold in Mobile, Nawlins and Houston couldn’t catch a break in JAX either…
Unlicensed QMED any rating with all the extra certs I could throw on the counter to attempt to beat someone out…
Getting harassed for dues when there was no jobs told the guy I’d pay up prior to a job call if it looked like a sure thing, being beat out of vacation $ for SPAD…
Saw guns pulled in parking lot at two different halls when one guy buys a job and the guy who woulda caught the job takes exception…
Attended enough meetings up at PP with Mike Sacco’money and his crew of pimps and hustlers that I seen plenty of shouting people down from the stage and outright intimidation and I swear one guy pissed himself in the middle of the auditorium…
FUCK THEM…
Longshore union takes message on the road
Comments Print
Mateusz Perkowski
Published:
September 24. 2013 10:58AM
Longshoremen are reaching out to farmers to try to gain support for their position in a labor dispute with several Northwest grain handlers. They’ve also picketed grain elevators owned by the handlers.
Longshoremen have taken to the countryside in their ongoing labor dispute with several Northwest grain handlers.
Several representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have recently gone on “road trips” to rural communities in Washington and Montana to protest the grain handlers’ actions and try to win favor with farmers.
Along the way, they’ve picketed grain elevators owned by Columbia Grain, United Grain and Louis Dreyfus.
The longshoremen’s picketing resulted in a local union leader, Scott Mason, being cited for criminal trespass at a facility in Harlem, Mont., on Sept. 18.
Mason, the president of ILWU Local 23 of Tacoma, Wash., said longshoremen have the right to establish “primary pickets” at such sites. Mason said he has pleaded not guilty and would ask for a jury trial.
“We don’t plan on giving up this fight,” he said. “We have the right to put economic pressure to even the score until we can get both sides back to the table.”
A labor contract between ILWU and several Northwest grain handlers expired a year ago.
Negotiations failed to generate an agreement over work rules, and the handlers imposed a new contract at the end of 2012.
United Grain and Columbia Grain locked out longshoremen from export terminals earlier this year due to claims of sabotage and work slowdowns, which the union denied.
According to ILWU, the recent criminal trespass charge arose from longshoremen picketing alongside tracks owned by the BNSF Railway Co. at a Columbia Grain facility.
The action delayed a train leaving the facility because railroad workers honored the picket line until local sheriff’s deputies cited Mason and forced the longshoremen to move, ILWU said.
The picketers were previously told not to enter Columbia Grain property and to stay away from the BNSF right-of-way, said Frank Billmayer, under sheriff for Blaine County, whose office responded to the incident.
“All those individuals were previously warned about it,” he said.
Aside from picketing, longshoremen representatives tried to spread the word in rural communities about the grain handlers’ lockouts and unfair actions, said Mason.
“We needed to take our message further east and let them know it’s a problem for everyone, not just a few longshoremen,” he said.
Earlier in September, several ILWU representatives met with the Lola Raska, executive vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association.
“Their message was that they did not want to impede the flow of grain from Montana to the Coast,” said Raska.
Raska said their more recent actions picketing at local grain elevators seem to undermine that claim.
“I wasn’t rely happy with that, given their message that they didn’t want to do that,” she said.
The longshoremen were likely trying to gauge the level of support among farmers to their cause, Raska said.
Tactics like picketing aren’t likely to endear farmers to the ILWU, as growers work closely with the handlers and see them as their customers, Raska said.
“I cautioned they wouldn’t find a lot of support among local producers if they planned to teach the grain handlers a lesson,” she said.
Pat McCormick, spokesman for grain handlers involved in the dispute, said the picketing activities haven’t had an impact on the companies’ operations.
There was a problem in August when grain inspectors from the Washington State Department of Agriculture said they were afraid of crossing picket lines, he said.
That situation has since been resolved because police have been escorting the inspectors to the export facility, McCormick said.
Operations at export terminals in Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore., have proceeded “smoothly and efficiently” with managers and replacement workers after longshoremen were locked out, McCormick said.
Mason of ILWU said the facilities would end up being less competitive and more costly to operate with replacement workers.
“I don’t think they can load up the ships as fast or as efficient as us,” he said.
Comments Print
User Comments
You must register, login or to make a comment.
This issue about unions has gone askew, its more about the fact that while wages in the GOM have surpassed union up north/deep sea (I’d say almost uniformly) we haven’t been screwed in the process. Some think because ours haven’t kept up we’re getting a raw deal. Not so. Who has it better? I don’t think anyone does, just that each sector has its pros-cons. I like the job security, paid overtime, free benefits (i GUARANTEE they are top tier in the biz), and some union protection you get at a union shop; you guys down south make more money as a trade-off. To each their own, but by no means do the unions hold everyone back. For what I do i feel fairly compensated. If i want more money, I’ll have to go work harder or run more sophisticated equipment which comes with an investment into DP and a few demotions.
And not everyone pays big $ dues or waits in halls for work…it happens but not in every union. The disclaimer is I’m now non-union management, at a union company—where we get almost all the same benefits of the union guys without being members which explains why I am still mostly pro-union when they’re fair and rational.
When I left SIU for my first mud boat job in 95 it was a step up. My new day rate was $10 more a day and that was calculating working 4 hours OT everyday. So for a typical 12 hour day I was making more money right off the bat. My new BCBS plan was better than the seafarers wellness plan and accepted in way more places. Plus I had a steady 14/14 rotation as opposed to languishing in the hall for weeks/months on end. Maybe it’s different for union tugboat guys but deep sea sucked ass. If I had gotten on with a union tugboat company I may still be union. I was looking for a steady paycheck and I found that on the bayou. It would have been better even if the money was a little less for a steady gig. The deep sea side of unlicensed union shipping was for shit. Throw in all the other aforementioned union nonsense and it was definitely time for a change for me.
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;121296]When I left SIU for my first mud boat job in 95 it was a step up. My new day rate was $10 more a day and that was calculating working 4 hours OT everyday. So for a typical 12 hour day I was making more money right off the bat. My new BCBS plan was better than the seafarers wellness plan and accepted in way more places. Plus I had a steady 14/14 rotation as opposed to languishing in the hall for weeks/months on end. Maybe it’s different for union tugboat guys but deep sea sucked ass. If I had gotten on with a union tugboat company I may still be union. I was looking for a steady paycheck and I found that on the bayou. It would have been better even if the money was a little less for a steady gig. The deep sea side of unlicensed union shipping was for shit. Throw in all the other aforementioned union nonsense and it was definitely time for a change for me.[/QUOTE]
Sounds like you made the right move. Have to agree about deep-sea unlicensed although some do ok, not great. Nowadays some are not skilled ether so…
My first union job was as an AB on a tug and it was the first time I ever made decent money. It was right after I got my third mate’s license and it was nice to get a good check.
Reason I went union long run was because they didn’t care that I was hawespipe. As long as you have your paperwork in order and the books are open you are free to throw in same as anyone so I didn’t have to deal with those ring-knockers at personnel.
Working at the shop I work at, we don’t hang out in a hall waiting for work, we are dispatched by seniority. Our union dues are very reasonable & we have great benefits. I have worked at non- union shops and was treated good there also but have seen some at the non-union shop lose work to guys that just got hired ,while a guy who has been there for years gets pass on work. I do believe in seniority so would have an issue with that if it happen to me. Also I do not use non-union & scab in the same breath. My opinion is only a SCAB crosses a picket line. Non-union just means your working without a contract and are not able to use collective bargaining.
Sounds to me like the negative union talk really boils down to SIU and AMO.
[QUOTE=brjones;121315]Sounds to me like the negative union talk really boils down to SIU and AMO.[/QUOTE]
If leadership is doing the best they under the circumstances that’s one thing, but under the table bullshit is another. That shouldn’t be tolerated.
333 needs some work to say the least.
333 issues could be solved if there was a master contract for working conditions, seniority etc, and individual contracts for each position…mate’s/engineers, deckhands, tankermen…from my perspective each company has a group of either career tankermen or deckhands who only care about their paycheck.
Yea it’s a couple of harbor mates and the career harbor OS’s that are doing the talking for all of us and unfortunately they’re taking their own personal interests to the bargaining table and nothing else. It’s pretty funny now around the yard cause the OS’s have no friends anymore and they can’t figure out why. They also have the nerve to be angry when They learn that the entire offshore fleet is pissed at them
Back to the original topic, no offense meant, but here is more news from professional mariner…
Unions: ‘Unproven’ towboat operator causing unsafe conditions on Columbia River
Sep 19, 2013 12:10 PM
Labor groups say a grain terminal lockout has led Marubeni Corp. and Mitsui to call in a company that uses unqualified personnel
The following is the text of a news release from the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots and the Inland Boatmen’s Union:
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — An oil spill or other catastrophe threatens to result from the chaotic conditions on the Columbia River, where an inexperienced towboat and tugboat operator is making a frenetic attempt to capitalize on the seven-month old labor dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and two Japanese-owned grain terminals.
Raising the alarm are two labor unions whose members have been sidelined as a result ofthe dispute: the Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) and the Inland Boatmen’s Union (IBU). Members of MM&P and IBU are honoring the picket lines ofthe ILWU workers, who have been locked out of their jobs at the Columbia Grain terminal in Portland and the United Grain Terminal in Vancouver since February.
To move the grain in the midst ofthe lock~out, terminal owners Marubenì Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. have called in a ñy-by-night tug and towboat operator using questionable equipment and unqualified tugboat personnel with no prior experience on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.
“The safety of commerce on the Columbia River is in jeopardy,” says Captain Don Marcus, President of MM&P. “An unproven towboat operator using substandard personnel is Working the locked-out terminals. There is no doubt that an environmental catastrophe could take place at any time.”
IBU President Alan Cote reports that accidents “are occurring with regularity.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard is turning a blind eye. “The Coast Guard is charged by law with enforcing federal marine regulations, but numerous notifications of dangerous conditions have been ignored,” Cote says. Federal regulations require the Coast Guard to remain neutral in labor disputes, but “failing to investigate known violations and accidents on the river for the benefit of Marubeni and Mitsui and to the detriment of American Workers and the safety ofthe Columbia River, is, in fact, taking sides,” he says.
Catastrophic damage t0 the ecology ofthe Columbia River is a real possibility in this situation, the unions say, adding, “We are compelled to bring this situation to the attention ofthe general public.”
“We urge all members of our community to demand safe vessel operations on the Columbia River and to require that the parties to this dispute sit down and resolve their differences so that our region may prosper,” they said.
Aîan Cote, President, IBU Donald Marcus, President, MMSLP
Nothing like having tax dollars spent on foreign corporate security , AKA U.S. coast guard.
If you are going to consider the non union operator to not know how to properly tie off a barge, you sure as hell better look at the striking union for purposely untieing the barge
(A) he’s a SCAB which is different from a non-union guy. I have seen firsthand his handy work.(B) speculation last I heard and not proven.
Maritime unions cry foul on grain companies
They say unqualified, nonunion tugboat creates dangers
Story by Aaron Corvin
Thursday, September 26, 2013
FONT SIZE
Two maritime unions say United Grain Corp. at the Port of Vancouver and Columbia Grain in Portland are employing an unqualified, nonunion tug and towboat operator to move grain amid the companies’ ongoing lockout of union dockworkers, exposing people and the environment to danger on the region’s waterways.
The International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots and the Inlandboatmen’s Union are honoring picket lines maintained by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. That means the maritime unions aren’t moving grain for the companies. In their absence, United Grain and Columbia Grain “have called in a fly-by-night tug and towboat operator using questionable equipment and unqualified tugboat personnel with no prior experience on the Columbia and Willamette rivers,” according to a news release from the maritime unions.
The two maritime unions also say the U.S. Coast Guard is “turning a blind eye” to the situation.
Pat McCormick, spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association — which includes United Grain and Columbia Grain — said it was more appropriate for the Coast Guard, which enforces maritime law, to respond.
Lt. Regina Caffrey, a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard, said her agency has examined concerns raised by the two maritime unions and has mostly found they don’t merit an ongoing investigation or enforcement action.
The concerns raised by the two maritime unions are the latest flare-ups in the yearlong contract dispute between Northwest grain handlers and longshore workers. United Grain and Columbia Grain locked out union dockworkers in February and May, respectively.
Don Marcus, international president of Masters, Mates & Pilots, said the presence of the unqualified boat operator jeopardizes the safety of commerce on the region’s waterways and invites an environmental disaster.
“It’s essential that the (grain handlers) and the ILWU get back together and settle this dispute,” Marcus said in a phone interview with The Columbian. “It’s very negative for everyone on the river.”
The Coast Guard will meet with the two maritime unions early next week to discuss their concerns, Caffrey said.
'Taking sides’
Marcus said the two maritime unions believe the alleged unqualified boat operator is Kadoke Marine. The company is listed in Oregon state government records as Kadoke Marine Management, a limited liability company registered on July 3.
Andrew Kerr, an attorney with Brownstein Rask law firm in Portland, is listed as the registered agent for Kadoke. Kerr said Thursday he’s no longer representing Kadoke and had no comment on the matter. He referred inquiries to Bill Hutchison, an attorney with the Lane Powell law firm in Portland, who declined to comment.
Marcus said a boat operated by the company has been involved in several questionable incidents. They include an Aug. 20 incident in which the boat collided with “a stationary object,” Marcus said, near United Grain’s facility, causing damage.
In another incident, on Sept. 10, Marcus said the same boat failed to maneuver properly to allow company personnel to safely access the boat at Columbia Grain’s facility in North Portland.
Marcus said the two maritime unions also believe the boat is supervised by an unfit captain.
In their news release, Alan Cote, national president of the Inlandboatmen’s Union, said “accidents are occuring with regularity,” and that the Coast Guard is “taking sides” with United Grain and Columbia Grain by ignoring the incidents.
In a phone interview with The Columbian, Caffrey, the Coast Guard spokeswoman, said the agency follows federal law in carrying out investigations and enforcement actions. “We do our regulatory enforcement no matter who’s involved,” she said.
Caffrey confirmed Thursday that Kadoke Marine is the company involved in the August incident near United Grain and in the matter regarding its boat crew’s credentials. Caffrey said there was an incident in August in which a tugboat, maneuvering near United Grain’s facility, ran into a mooring fender.
Under federal law, the criteria for launching a full investigation – and possibly taking enforcement action – include property damage in excess of $25,000, Caffrey said. The Coast Guard conducted a preliminary investigation of the incident, she said, and found that only minimal damage occurred. As a result, the incident did not warrant further action.
Caffrey said she’s aware of concerns about poor ship maneuvering but doesn’t have anything specific regarding the Sept. 10 incident alleged by the two maritime unions.
As to the allegation that the boat’s captain is unfit, Caffrey said the matter remains under investigation. She said the Coast Guard initially reviewed the credentials of the boat’s crew and found that all but one of nine personnel possessed the proper endorsements.
On Sept. 24, Caffrey said, the Coast Guard received updated paperwork for all of the boat’s crew members and that all of it checked out. Nevertheless, an investigation into the initial finding that “something did not match up” with one member of the boat’s crew remains open, Caffrey said.
Caffrey noted the Coast Guard has, since the beginning of 2013, so far taken a total of 62 enforcement actions – 59 civil penalty citations and three suspensions or revocations of merchant mariner credentials.
Aaron Corvin: http://twitter.com/col_econ; http://on.fb.me/AaronCorvin 360-735-4518;; aaron.corvin@columbian.com
I did not accuse anyone, I simply said t sawo consider all the possibilities. Obviously no body saw what happened or else someone would be fired or in jail
Don’t take this the wrong way. Interesting name for a SCAB boat.
[QUOTE=Signal Red;122058]Don’t take this the wrong way. Interesting name for a SCAB boat.[/QUOTE]
Why is it only the mishap we hear about and not the job these guys are doing with no problem, and guys in small boats getting in the way.