That is the problem with the so called “right to work” laws. Unions negotiate the contracts, their members pay the dues to support them but the freeloaders go along for the ride. Some, not all, of the freeloaders talk crap about unions while they enjoy the benefits. Those type are worse than scabs in my opinion. It’s like getting welfare, not paying taxes and talking trash about the government.
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If unions had any interest in being effective for their members, Instead of perpetuating do nothing jobs for union bosses, they would merge. Stop competing in a race to the bottom.
What is needed is one union for officers, and one union for unlicensed. No inland or offshore divisions. Anyone that primarily works inland can wait sail offshore just like anyone else, if they have the license. Anyone that primarily sail offshore can sail inland while waiting for an offshore job, if they have the license.
Perhaps, certain regions or specialized trades for example the Mississippi River, should have a separate regional union or separate division.
Wages and benefits should be standardized by trade and region. There should not be big variations from one contract to the next in the same trade and region.
Until unions do this, you cannot blame anyone for preferring to work non-union.
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But there is variability in business, Business is good some years, and lean other years.The ship assist tug market in Oakland may be hot, but the sand and gravel business on the Petaluma River may be depressed, even though both could be said to be in the same trade, in the same region. Are you saying the crews in both cases should be paid the same? And how so? As much as the more lucrative gig, or as little as the less lucrative gig?
Union or not, Ship docking usually pays better than pushing aggregate. Bigger and better boats. Must be able to work with pilots, etc.
Within an area and trade, bigger boats usually pay better. Oil transport usually pays better than freight, aggregate, dredging, etc. there are other common sense variables.
Union or not, in some areas it is customary to pay extra for certain license endorsements.
Just for an example, if Foss, Crowley, and a couple other companies, are all operating ship docking tugs of a similar size in a port, the union contracts should be the same.
In some areas, it’s common for non-union companies to pay the same wages as the predominant union. Sometimes non-union companies pay more, but union benefits are generally better.
Non-union owners can, and do cut wages when business is bad. They don’t raise wages just because business gets better; they raise wages when they have to in order to attract and retain quality staff.
Wow, now I and the rest of the deck guys are scabs? Pretty harsh there. It’s not my fault that MEBA or anybody else couldn’t get pledge cards signed all those years ago.
Yes, I suppose back in the day that the OSG mates were better off because of the MEBA contracts. However, the last few years have shown that MEBA doesn’t do you guys a whole lot of good - remember that 12% payout you all took? And the last two raises, the deck side got them first (and more) just to push MEBA into a corner so they would finally agree to something?
My statement wasn’t supposed to compare to MEBA engineers. I was talking about mates. There are no mate tanker jobs in MEBA, so if I wanted to go work for AMO or MMP, I would be taking a severe payout, unless I went to the likes of ATC or Polar.
Thought OSG ATB’s were AMO at least the last 20 yrs or so. Not sure about any of the ships. All officers on the ATB’s pay determined by the company. Having pilotage for the ports they serve enhances your pay. Wages are not negotiated by AMO. Only benefits and payments into the AMO plan are negotiated between OSG and the union. All members have unlimited access to free room, board , and training for upgrading or maintaining said licenses. It may be different at other companies as far as who negotiates pay and benefits. But an active dues paying member has access to the school.
That is the point. If there was no unions the non-union companies would pay the least they had to to keep running. Benefits would also be minimal. If AMP, AWO, Waterways Council and many other lobbying organizations can ban together to protect their self interest it seems only fair the workers should be able to ban together to protect their self interest. That is what unions do. Are they perfect ? No but you can always change from within if you don’t like it. They have elections. Without a voice for workers by way of unions of workers there is no balance. Without some balance to the equation the foxes are in charge of the chicken house. Raise the chickens, consume them, get tired of raising them? Just go buy the cheapest chicken you can find. Import if the domestic ones are too expensive. Who is going to stop you?
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Never thought you were a scab but after these comments I say your an ungrateful dick
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Don’t be mad at me that your counterpart across the mess is making more than you are. That’s your unions fault.
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You only get raises because of MEBA. You think Damon gives you a raises cause he wants to. You should see exactly how much he wanted to cut wages last time. And when it comes to pay OSG pays the exact same. Engineers make 4 % less because of pensions contributions. My counterpart is the captain I’d expect him to make mare. Dickhead
Are you a union member where you work or just along for the ride?
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The fact that there are seperate unions for unlicensed, licensed, deck and engine is godawful stupid and the only real explanation is the toadies at the top like their cushy jobs and applauding themselves. Then of course they have the idiotic counter productive competitions against each other to gain contracts so that they are really nothing more than crewing agencies driving wages down. If they were really “serving the members” as they claim, they would all merge yesterday and begin bettering pay, benefits and standards for all. But that would entail 75% of the office pukes being let go or forced to retire and we know that isn’t happening. Their mostly ignorant workforce’s will “vote” to keep them in power 
Happens every time.
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Neither unions nor owners should control an entire trade.
It’s healthy for everyone to have a both union and non-union companies.
Originally, unions helped to set a standard. But too often now, unions lead the race to the bottom.
Non-union mariners have historically most often benefited from the presence of unions, but sometimes it’s the other way around.
Some unions, or at least union officials, are corrupt and rife with nepotism, various scams, or simply being in the owner’s pocket.
Union officials have created an absurd multiplicity of competing unions in a race to the bottom.
We cannot allow unions to control all the jobs.
We have entered an era that requires more and more training and certification for officers. In fact, we are approaching the point where a four year college degree is basically an entry level requirement. That should dictate good and increasing wages.
Yet, job opportunities, job security, wages and benefits have all declined.
The unions have really screwed up, and they have dragged the rest of us down with them.
I comply with the requirements of my employer.
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Unions are causing wages and benefits to decline? That’s not even remotely plausible.
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By 2050, all U.S. vessels will be remotely operated by people sitting in office parks in Reno, Fresno, and Scranton.
One of the kids in Scranton will get bored, and start surfing the hyper-web on his/her neural brain-implant device. He/she will stumble on an ancient website called gCaptain, and discover there are still two U.S. vessels with human crews! One person on each vessel. One vessel union, the other non-union.
They will still be arguing on this thread.
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Well that and how else do you hold power if you don’t have an enemy to portray to your constituency. You can only make the company the enemy to a certain extent. You need the separate unions to be the reason your befuddled masses are getting screwed over on these contracts, having troubles onboard, and generally to be the boogeyman. It’s all quite tiresome if you ask me.
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Not so sure about the one Union for licensed and unlicensed. My only big union experience was with a top to bottom creation called SMU. It was fabricated from the SIU and MEBA D2. Was specially concocted for the sea critter vessels Crowley ran after US Lines went under. So as you can imagine the pay was a special low scale to get their foot in the door. That seemed to ensure, shall we say, the less competent, unsavory and retired in place found homes on this contract. I think their parent unions applied pressure for some of them to come over.
The issue is with the grievance process. We were all paying dues to the same Union but when we hit Philly who shows up but a SIU official and he meets with the Captain and me and starts going over a list of problems submitted by our union brothers. Whoa. Keep in mind this is after a round trip US East coast / East coast South America when no one said squat about anything.
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The Wikipedia article on the IWW is fascinating. It chronicles in exhaustive and well-written detail the utter irrelevancy of an organization feared a century ago. True, IWW membership has soared from from 800 in 2000 to 4,000 in 2020 (106 people a year!), but there also has been a simultaneous increase in bearded BA-degree holders with time on their hands, and I think 3,200 of them might be spending their time on sprucing up the Wiki article and writing dissertations on the great Wherehouse Music Strike of 1997:
“…in 1996, the IWW began organizing at Wherehouse Music in El Cerrito, California… management fired two organizers and laid off over half the employees, as well as reducing the hours of known union members. This directly affected the NLRB certification vote which followed, where the IWW lost over 2:1…”
Things didn’t get better after that:
In 2003, the IWW began organizing street people and other non-traditional occupations with the formation of the Ottawa Panhandlers Union.
On 9 September 2016, the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison Riots, 900 incarcerated workers organized by the IWW and many other prisoners participated in the 9/9 National Prison Strike
Sometimes it’s better to just to let organizations die and fade away…