Washington, D.C. -- one mariner's experience

Washington, D.C. -- one mariner's experience

By Capt. J. Michael Murphy

Last Spring, I took up an offer to work in AMO's Washington, D.C. office. A year earlier, I had written a letter to headquarters and stated that I had previous experience in Washington D.C. and that I might be of some use to the union--and I was willing to spend vacation time from my master's job with Maersk to do it. Having spent a tour of duty in Washington, D.C. during my naval career, I thought I knew a few things about operating inside the Beltway, and I wanted to contribute in any way I could to our industry. The two months I spent working in our office at L'Enfant Plaza was an eye opener for me. Tom Bethel was open to the idea, and he brought me in when he became president of AMO.

My first day in the office, Tom--who has spent twenty plus years conducting our union's business in the deep-sea and inland fleets and in Washington--made it clear that his goal as president is to bring transparency to every facet of the union's operation and to put the members' welfare first in every decision. He told me to work with Ed Kelly and learn everything I could about the union's business. He sent out an e-mail giving me direct access to every union official and carte blanche to attend every meeting on any subject, including the trustee meetings.

I took Tom at his word and began making a pest of myself, getting hooked into the AMO computer systems, gathering reports and publications and putting my name on e-mail lists for the daily data feed on our industry's workings in Washington, D.C.

At Tom's direction, Ed Kelly took me in as an understudy. In between the myriad meetings, seminars and forums that seem to be the mark of our business, Ed spent hours educating me on our union and its dealings in Washington. He also involved me in several of the cutting edge issues our industry faces and how our union is tackling them: LNG training standards, TWIC cards, the Maritime Security Program, attacks on cargo preference laws, and the one I would become most deeply involved with, the Coast Guard's proposed NVIC on Medical and Physical Standards for Merchant Mariners. Ed also put me to work on a couple of thorny medical clearance issues faced by members. It seemed that each day I came to work, new challenges confronted us that had the potential to keep or lose jobs.

As I worked with Ed and others on the staff, I realized how unschooled I was on many of the issues they injected into their daily discussions. So I started a self-study course on our industry's fundamental underpinnings: the Shipping Acts of 1916 and 1984; the Merchant Marine Acts of 1920 (Jones Act) and 1936; and the several cargo reservation laws. These laws and acts spell out, among other things, the regulation of our companies, ships and tariffs, our cabotage laws, including the Jones Act and Passenger Vessel Services Act; Title XI Federal Ship Financing and what cargo the government must reserve for the U.S. merchant marine. These were things I'd heard about and even a few that I thought I knew something about--until I started reading them.

At the same time as I was trying to work my way through the various acts, I met our director of Congressional and legislative affairs, Charles Crangle. Charles is a former Great Lakes sailor who went to law school and has been dealing with legislative affairs for over 30 years--he is also a history buff, especially where our industry is concerned. He constantly probed my educational background and brought me to the realization that I knew almost nothing about the laws to which our union must conform. I added the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Wagner Act, Taft-Hartley Act and Landrum-Griffin Act to my "homework".

My days were also spent interacting with numerous agencies that make up the complicated web we call our industry. Some of these include USCG Headquarters, National Maritime Center, the U.S. Navy, Military Sealift Command, Naval Sea Systems Command, the U.S Army, AFL-CIO, IMO representatives, the other maritime unions, the various academies and union training schools, the contracted companies and even the occasional encounter with a congressman or senator. Nearly every issue of substance requires coordination or consultation with most or all of these entities, plus a few that I didn't mention. As I had learned before in Washington, knowing the wiring diagram in these organizations is not sufficient. You need to know the specific people who can address your particular issue, and it helps if you know ahead of time where they stand on a the issue before you discuss it with them--something that only comes with hard-earned experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I became embroiled in an issue that was to consume a considerable amount of my time and effort: the Coast Guard's proposed NVIC on Physical and Medical Standards for Merchant Mariners--a potentially industry-changing document that has created a broad coalition of industry and labor to oppose it. Tom Bethel felt strongly about this issue, and he assigned me to coordinate with the other labor unions to provide a united front. I wrote several internal papers for the staff, participated in a MERPAC working group and worked with the other labor unions to formally oppose this NVIC. At this time, our objections are still under review by the Coast Guard.

As the date for returning to my ship came closer, my schedule in the office seemed to accelerate. The capstone of my time was attending the trustees' meeting where both the union officials and the trustees appointed by our contracting companies review and provide oversight of our union's plans and finances. I was truly impressed with the openness of the proceedings and the eagerness of everyone to answer questions. I was also impressed by the complexity and breadth of our union's business. Each elected official is responsible for a specific facet of business and must be completely conversant with it so they present a written and verbal report during the trustees' meeting.

At the end of two months, I realized I had barely scratched the surface of meeting Tom's original direction to learn as much as I could about the union's business. I did not get to any of the other AMO offices, I was only tangentially involved with contracts and I had barely met all of the elected officials. But my Rolodex was filling up, and I was starting to feel like I was seeing the outlines of the larger picture that our officials deal with every day. On the day of my departure, I'll admit to having been torn between the two worlds.

Now, for those of you who wonder if the normal "off-limits" question about salaries was asked, the answer is yes. I was provided with the salary ranges of our staff and officials and was surprised at them. For the sake of their privacy, I won't be specific, but I'll say that most of us seagoing senior officers make more than nearly all of them, except the president and vice president, who earn what still could be called a modest salary for their positions.

Although I had previously spent time in the Washington arena and expected the onslaught of issues, I still wasn't prepared for the broad spectrum of our operation there--particularly with the small staff. As I told Tom before I left, I figured it would take at least a year before I would be able to say I had seen most of the union's business at least once. My personal opinion is we are fortunate to have the experienced leadership to deal with this day-to-day regulatory and legislative battle for turf, jobs and money. And I'm ready to return anytime I'm invited back.

Capt. Murphy has sailed as a Master with Maersk Line for the past 14 years since his retirement from active duty in Washington, D.C., as a U.S. Navy captain. He holds bachelor's degrees from California Maritime Academy and California State University at San Diego. He also holds master's degrees from the University of Salve Regina and the senior course at the Naval War College. He has delivered and commanded three LMSRs and held aviation command in the Navy.

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