SIUNA GRANTS BME AUTONOMY

SIUNA Grants BME Autonomy

      At its 6th biennial convention in San Diego in April 1953, the Seafarers International Union of North America made it official--the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers, which had earned its sea legs in four difficult but successful years as an SIUNA affiliate, was to have full autonomy.
      In a unanimous vote, the SIUNA delegates gave the BME the authority to adopt its own governing documents and elect its own officials. The action "formally guarantees the BME full freedom and independence of action that it has enjoyed in actual practice," said one report from the convention.
      The report said the SIUNA's recognition of the BME's "strength" would be "a boost to the BME's rapidly growing prestige on the waterfront and add impetus to the union's organizing activity." The autonomy resolution noted that the BME had been chartered in 1949 "in response to requests from licensed engineers aboard U.S.-flag ships who were dissatisfied with the communist-influenced leadership of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association" in the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
      The BME had made "considerable progress," the resolution continued. The new union's financial base was "solid," its job-to-book ratio was "well regulated," and it had established a "successful" Welfare Plan for the benefit of BME members and their families. At the time, the BME Welfare Plan was under the direction of Ray McKay.
      "The Seafarers International Union of North America traditionally grants full freedom to all of its affiliates as soon as they demonstrate solvency and their ability to act as a responsible member of the SIUNA family of unions," said the resolution. "This freedom ... is essential to the conduct of a democratic trade union in the tradition of the SIUNA. Lack of this freedom permits much harmful propaganda to be circulated against us in our organizational drives among the unorganized licensed marine engineers."
      A BME statement later called the SIUNA action "a thumping vote of confidence in our union--it means the delegates are convinced that the BME ... has firmly and solidly established itself as a sound and growing union in the licensed engineers' fleet."
      The statement continued: "When the union started, there were few in the industry who believed it could come this far. But the small group of engineers who launched it soon won valuable allies. There were the rank and file engineers who wanted real representation. There were the other member unions in the SIU who were ready to help the licensed engineer get the best in shipboard conditions. And, not the least, there was the hidebound hierarchy in the MEBA whose blindness to the needs of the rank and file drove the engineers into the arms of the BME.
       "Today, the BME has the best contracts, the largest benefits, and the best employment conditions in the industry. With this grant of autonomy, the way is cleared for full speed ahead to bring to other marine engineers the benefits of BME membership."
       With the convention behind it, the BME immediately went to work on its own identity. At a BME membership meeting at headquarters in Brooklyn, union book holders elected a six-man committee to draft a constitution for the union. The finished product would go to the membership for a secret ballot vote to accept or reject it.
      Named to the committee were Edward Reisman, Rudolph Wunsch, James Wilde, Everett Landers, Peter Geipi, and William Lovvorn. The voting membership gave the panel one month to complete a first draft. Consulting with attorneys and referring to the SIUNA and other union constitutions, the committee wanted to craft a document that would provide for free and fair elections, set the terms of office for official positions, specify the duties of union officials, provide for charges, trials, and appeals, permit rank and file membership inspection of the union's financial records, and permit amendments by rank and file vote.
      "Our objective is to come up with a constitution which will make the BME truly a union run by and run for the working engineer," said BME Secretary-Treasurer Charles King, the union's top official at the time.
      On May 19, union members approved the committee's draft, which had been circulated for review. The membership voted to submit the document to union members in a six-week secret ballot vote that would begin May 23 and end July 3. Members also approved a stipulation requiring a two-thirds majority for approval.
      Mail ballots went to all BME members, along with copies of the proposed constitution. Copies of the draft were available at headquarters, and the document was printed as a supplement to BME Marine Engineer, the union's official publication.
      The draft constitution provided for the election of only four officials-president, two vice presidents, and secretary-treasurer. The elected officers would serve one-year terms, beginning Jan. 1, 1954. The constitution also provided for additional officials as needed. The constitution committee determined that "this would be the most flexible procedure for a young and growing union."
      The constitution was approved by 96 percent of the voting BME membership, and nominations for elective office were opened in July. Appointed to serve as "pro-tem" officers until completion of the balloting were President Wilbur Dickey, Vice Presidents "Curly" Wandell and John Regan, and Secretary-Treasurer Charles King. In August, King resigned for personal reasons, and Ray Doell was named acting treasurer.

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