1953: BME DEFIES SKEPTICS

1953: Union Defies Skeptics With Democratic Procedures, Organizing, Contracts

      "We're here to stay," proclaimed a headline over an editorial cartoon in the April 1953 issue of BME Marine Engineer, the official publication of the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers. The four-year-old union had confounded skeptics in and out of the turbulent post-war American labor movement--the headline was as appropriate as it was prescient.
      With the rival Marine Engineers Beneficial Association of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in growing disarray at the hand of leftist sympathizers, the BME thrived on the principles of democratic trade unionism.
      In January 1953, the BME launched its first union-wide secret ballot mail referendum. Union members were asked to approve an increase in membership dues to $100 a year to cover organizing costs and to add to an increasingly effective staff of representatives.
      "The dues increase ... will enable the union to add representation on the Gulf and West Coasts, thus providing better service to the membership in those areas," said a BME statement urging adoption of a motion approved during monthly BME membership meetings. "In addition, it will provide funds needed to expand the BME organizing campaign." The resolution presented for membership consideration pointed out that no proceeds from the increased dues were to be used to increase the salaries of BME representatives or staff.
      In March, the ballots were counted in Brooklyn by a rank and file committee--Gus Guzelian, Rudy Wunsch, Lonnie Clarke, C.F. Walbridge, and Sam Rubin. The new dues rate had been approved by 89 percent of the vote. "The overwhelming support ... is cause for gratification for every engineer who believes in a strong, democratic union," said an editorial in the April issue of the union's newspaper.
      "There is no question but that the men on the ships have given the union a tremendous vote of confidence." The editorial concluded: "There's no question, despite the fuming and fussing of our opponents outside, that the BME is the coming union in maritime. Every engineer in the BME will benefit accordingly."
      Meanwhile, the BME had initiated a permit system that had been approved in membership meeting votes. Setting a principle that was to remain central to the union through its evolution as the nation's strongest union of merchant marine officers, the permit system was "designed to maintain the present healthy ratio of jobs to members in the BME."
       Under the permit structure, engineers were considered for full BME membership once they had completed three months' of permit work on BME vessels. Engineers signing up with BME during organizing drives were issued BME books once the union had won recognition in the specific fleet. But, in all cases, "the number of new books issued will be kept in proportion to the number of ships and jobs available to the BME."
       With the referendum underway and the permit system in place, the BME reopened its collective bargaining agreements with major U.S.-flag ship operators like Isthmian and Isbrandtsen, eventually negotiating wage increases of 15 percent.
      Also doing well was the BME Welfare Plan, which ended 1952 with a surplus after paying $8,155 in benefits to BME members and their families. The Plan hired a new administrator--Bob Creasey, a former assistant Secretary of Labor--and established a new benefit of $25 a week in disability pay, with no cap on individual pay-outs.
      Later that year, the BME established a Department of Welfare and Special Services to provide union members and their families with "a variety of special services ... on matters other than employment, wages, and working conditions." The new unit made certain that BME members' medical claims were processed quickly and completely. The department also addressed matters ranging from maintenance and cure to taxes to the military draft.
      Appointed to head the Department of Welfare and Special Services was a young engineer named Raymond T. McKay, who the BME Marine Engineer described as "well known to BME engineers sailing out of the Port of New York." McKay "will see engineers on ships and ashore on a variety of matters," the newspaper continued. "He will assist any engineer who needs help on personal problems."
      In his first report to the BME rank and file, McKay said: "We want all BME engineers to know that this department is in business to give them a hand with a variety of personal difficulties. We'll be down to the ships to see if any of the engineers needs a hand, or you can reach us at the BME headquarters hall in Brooklyn. If any of the men get sick or hurt here in the States or in a foreign port, if they have draft board dealings to take care of or any other business matters we can be helpful on, we'll be glad to do what we can."
      Membership services remained in focus as the BME, expanding on a modest program already in place, worked with the U.S. Maritime Service to prepare engineers for license upgrading through the USMS training center in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, now the site of Kingsborough Community College.
      Among those watching the BME's remarkable progress was Captain C.T. Atkins, national president of the Masters, Mates, & Pilots. In an article in MM&P's Local 88 newspaper in New York, Atkins acknowledged the BME's clout when he rejected an earlier proposal by the MEBA leadership that the MEBA, MM&P, and BME merge.
      The proposed arrangement would have required the mates to jump ship from the AFL to the CIO--something the MM&P had no intention of doing. Atkins said a merged officers' union--if it were to exist at all--would have to be under the AFL flag, and it would have to have the approval of "the Maritime Trades Department and the BME," Atkins said. He added: "As far as the MM&P is concerned, we recognize the jurisdiction of the BME within the AFL as representing the engineers."
      Later that year, the MM&P proposed a merger with the BME during a meeting in Washington. A BME committee that included McKay advised that "it would not be timely or advisable to consider withdrawal from the Seafarers International Union of North America."
      An especially significant development in 1953 was the 6th Biennial Convention of the SIUNA. Delegates granted full autonomy to the BME, an action that resulted in the BME's first constitution and its first union-wide election of officers.

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