Section Front Front Page |
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AMO 'stands honorably again' after difficult time
|
|||
| Bethel addresses state of the union past and present at 2007 SIUNA convention | |||
"AMO is trusted and respected again by U.S.-flagged merchant vessel operators, federal regulatory agencies that govern U.S. shipping and the employment of U.S. merchant mariners, federal lawmakers and Congressional aides," Bethel advised delegates to the biennial convention of the SIUNA at the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education in Piney Point, Md. "American Maritime Officers stands honorably again as a member of the labor family." The case began in June 2000 when the U.S. Departments of Labor and Justice began a joint investigation of AMO and AMO Plans. The investigation resulted in the January 2006 plea-bargained felony convictions of former AMO National Vice President (Deep Sea) Thomas Kelly and former AMO National Executive Vice President Jerome Joseph and the convictions by a jury of former AMO National President Michael McKay and former AMO National Secretary-Treasurer Robert McKay in January 2007. Bethel noted that, as the criminal case drew to a close in January 2007, AMO "was beginning yet another distinctive year as the nation's largest and strongest union of merchant marine officers." In the five preceding years, the AMO fleet grew by 36 vessels, AMO jobs had been protected on more than 100 deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels subject to commercial sale, government acquisition and competitive bidding for Military Sealift Command and Maritime Administration charters, additional vessels were "on the way," and "new opportunity was in development," Bethel explained. "AMO enjoyed full employment in deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters trades, and our union remained the principal source of licensed officers for ships operating under government charter," Bethel continued. "AMO's benefit funds were healthy and growing, and AMO members had unrivaled opportunities and options for license upgrading, STCW certification and professional advancement." The difficulty, Bethel added, was overcoming the "stigma" of the investigation and the felony convictions. "AMO pulled through six years safely in significant part because of the extraordinary professionalism shown by each and every AMO member each and every day in each and every seagoing job," Bethel said in his remarks to the convention delegates. "American Maritime Officers is no longer defined publicly and politically by the unprecedented and unfortunate events that began in June 2000 or by the embarrassing press that plagued our union for so long," Bethel added. "AMO is defined instead by the dedication demonstrated by the AMO membership and by an administration committed not only to job and benefit security for all AMO members and their families, but also to transparency, good governance and effective representation at every level. "The new administration I am privileged to lead is promoting reconciliation, recovery and reform, doing the work necessary not only to sustain AMO's superior standing among licensed labor organizations, but also to restore our union's reputation and its credibility in labor, industry and government," Bethel continued. "We have accomplished much in a short time." Bethel also discussed "the proud history" that exists between American Maritime Officers and the Seafarers International Union of North America. "AMO was chartered in May 1949 by (the late SIUNA president) Paul Hall as the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers, an affiliate of the Seafarers International Union of North America," Bethel noted. "When AMO became one of three district unions within the National Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association as a result of the 1955 merger between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Paul Hall and the Seafarers continued to provide us with support and encouragement. The bond between our unions has never weakened, and generations of AMO members have gained from it." American Maritime Officers re-affiliated with the Seafarers International Union of North America in November 2003 under an agreement preserving AMO's autonomy. "AMO is now the union that Paul Hall and the charter members of the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers intended: democratic, powerful and growing, resilient and resourceful," Bethel said in his remarks to the convention delegates. "Working together, my administration and the AMO membership have made AMO a union our families and we can be proud of." Bethel struck similar themes in his affiliate's report to the SIUNA convention. "What began as a tumultuous year for American Maritime Officers has settled comfortably into a time of renewal for the nation's largest and strongest union of licensed merchant mariners," Bethel said in the report. The affiliate's report summarized what Bethel had done since January 2007 to improve the union's public, professional and political images, which Bethel said had been "tarnished deeply" by the criminal case. "I took immediate steps to begin restoring AMO's reputation and its credibility," Bethel said in the report. "Unproductive employees and unseen 'consultants' who had provided undefined services were purged from the union payroll, and other employees were reassigned to positions I believed were more advantageous to the AMO membership. The new secretary-treasurer and newly elected AMO executive board members were at long last given salaries, benefits and office accommodations commensurate with their positions. "More importantly, the new AMO administration opened additional lines of communication with the seagoing membership, and new policies were adopted not only to minimize the risk of illegal, unethical or inappropriate behavior by current AMO officials, representatives and employees, but also to change the climate that had in part encouraged the criminal actions of previous AMO officials and employees," the report said. By September 2007, the "consensus" among AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members "appeared to be that AMO had taken the correct course, that AMO had emerged ... as a confident, growing and increasingly democratic union." Chartered by the American Federation of Labor in 1938, the Seafarers International Union of North America today is comprised of 13 affiliated unions representing 82,000 workers at sea and ashore. Bethel serves without compensation as a vice president of the Seafarers International Union of North America. |
|||
|
|||
Front Page
Return To Section-Front
|
