UNION ELECTIONS AND THE IMPACT ON MEBA

Union elections and impact on MEBA

The following is an article from Trade Winds regarding the upcoming AMO election. The impact this will have on MEBA and our long tern disputes with AMO is unknown. In light of this one must also look at the upcoming MEBA elections. The players are on the move. The wholesale retirement/resignation of elected officials before the completion of their terms will allow the current Union Leadership to stack the deck not only with appointed replacements at the highest positions but also on the Board of Trustees which control every aspect of our Plans.

While this practice has historical prescient going back to the days of Cahloun that does not make it right. These Officials were elected by the membership to represent them for the entire duration of their tenure. To not do so is a violation of their fiduciary duty to the Membership.



Subject: Trade Winds Weekly-RE: AMO Election

Trial to overlap union election.

A US trial could have a marked effect on voting for union leadership candidates.
A potentially historic election is underway at the largest union for US-flag licensed seafarers, even as its two top leaders are set to go on trial.

The 4,000-strong American Maritime Officers (AMO) has been headed by one family for nearly 50 years. But legal troubles and a diverse field of challengers could put the Miami-headquartered union on a new course.

On 6 November, the two top incumbents, long-serving president Michael McKay and his brother, Secretary-treasurer Robert McKay, will go on trial before a federal jury, over a year after being indicted on racketeering and conspiracy charges. The previous president, their father Raymond McKay, led the AMO and its predecessor organizations from 1957 until his death in 1993.

Voting will conclude 1 December, dramatically coinciding with the McKays' trial on charges that include among other things tampering with earlier AMO elections.
No fewer than six candidates are running for the presidential spot, among 14 positions up for election. Ballots have been mailed out and several members Trade Winds have spoken with say they have already marked and returned theirs.
Besides a slate allied with the McKays, the best-organized contenders may be a slate of nine qualified nominees associated with the reformist AMO Membership Committee (AMC), headed by Totem Ocean Master Jack Hearn ( see story below ).

One interesting latecomer, Great Lakes Mate Rob Woodman, apparently advocates acquiring control of one or more ship owning companies by leveraging union pension funds. Woodman was involved with an unsuccessful attempt at an employee buyout of Ogle bay Norton on that basis.

At least three incumbent AMO leaders will be elected unopposed. These include national vice-president at large Edward Kelly, the AMO's head Washington lobbyist. The AMO leader probably best known to US-flag ship-owners, head contract negotiator Tom Bethel, is among those who face a challenge.

It would be illegal for employers to support one side or the other in such an election. And indeed, some AMO-organized shipowners Trade Winds has spoken with say they are keeping hands off and would be foolish not to do so. Some operators have privately expressed interest in the outcome, fearing in some cases that seagoing challengers to the McKays may be overly optimistic about how well they can run a quasi-corporate employee organization.

Some AMO members who support opposition candidates have told Trade Winds the election could be influenced by fear of reprisals by the current leadership. Many are said to expect that their voting preferences will become known to the incumbent leadership and affect their prospects for employment. (In the US maritime industry, most crewing decisions are in the hands of the labor unions rather than the employers, the exception being top spots like ships' masters, who are often permanently employed by a company.)

However, during the run-up to the election, the AMO has made a significant change to the way it offers jobs on ships to its members.

Previously, the AMO has phoned eligible members to inform them that they are next in line for an opening with an AMO-organized ship-owner. AMO's competitor unions, Masters, Mates&Pilots (MM&P) and Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (Meba), use a more old-fashioned but some say more transparent method for assigning jobs, the traditional union hiring hall.

Now, however, the AMO has started a dispatching website where members can see where they stand in the queue for new jobs.

By Bob Rust Stamford
published: 20 October 2006