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AMO enters New Year with optimism, opportunity
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By Tom Bethel National President In a year that began with controversy and potential crisis for AMO, I am happy to say our union will enter 2008 with stability, strength and the potential to expand into new areas of opportunity for the membership-areas not typically open to American merchant mariners. This month, we took another solid step in that direction by signing an agreement with Faststream Recruitment Inc. This agreement is the result of months of productive discussions with the company and is geared toward making short- and long-term seagoing and shore side positions in the maritime industry available to AMO members in a new way-under AMO contract. While this isn't the only element of our relationship with Faststream, the immediate intent is to provide AMO members with as many new options as possible for rewarding work aboard vessels, ashore or both. Under the agreement, AMO members accepting seagoing or shore side positions referred to our union's deep-sea dispatchers by Faststream would maintain their benefits through AMO Plans and their representation by our union. We hope to see a variety of opportunities materialize in the coming year and beyond from this agreement, opportunities to provide AMO members the chance to work ashore between seagoing assignments or to take shore side positions for longer periods during their seagoing careers without missing a beat in benefits or the opportunity to resume sailing with AMO. Another intent of this aspect of our agreement is to provide AMO members completing a long sailing career, but who feel they still have something to contribute in the maritime industry, with the opportunity to work ashore without sacrificing their benefits or their membership status. Positions made available through our agreement with Faststream will be posted with the AMO Dispatching Department. AMO members hired for these positions will work under a memorandum of understanding that will include all required employer contributions to the AMO Plans. Faststream is a specialized leader in its field and has extensive access to the shore side markets of the U.S. and international maritime industries. Faststream also has extensive leads on seagoing employment worldwide. Likewise, AMO is the largest and strongest union of U.S. merchant marine officers. AMO members in all trades are skilled professionals who focus exclusively on getting their jobs done properly, safely and efficiently. Working together on marketing and recruitment, we can maintain stronger market intelligence and secure more opportunities than either AMO or Faststream could attain individually. Maritime officers of the caliber and qualities embodied by the AMO membership are now in high demand throughout the industry, and that demand is trending upward. The demand for qualified officers is particularly strong in the international LNG trades. Earlier this year, AMO took a pioneering step into the international market by securing an agreement with Teekay Shipping Corporation, one of the world's leading tanker companies with a significant presence in the LNG sector. AMO members are now working aboard Teekay tankers and LNG carriers in senior positions and more jobs are becoming available in these fleets. These agreements are the positive results of a long process of discussion and education for all parties involved. They are long-term dedicated efforts and are by no means the only such ventures this administration is engaged in on behalf of the membership. I also want to emphasize these agreements do not mean AMO has wavered in the least in its traditionally strong stance on domestic shipping under the U.S. flag. Nor do they represent a departure from AMO's role or values as a maritime officers' union. AMO remains a leading presence in U.S.-flag deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters trades, as well as the military sealift sector aboard ships operated for Military Sealift Command and the Maritime Administration. Our support of the Jones Act and other essential U.S. maritime laws and programs will not falter. Neither will our optimism or our efforts in the expansion of the U.S.-flag fleet in domestic and foreign markets. What these agreements do signify is this administration's willingness to think outside of the box in exploring any and all avenues of opportunity for the membership. An experienced eye on this industry will see the enormous potential for growth in select international markets. With growth there is opportunity, and we are committed to making these opportunities available to the men and women sailing with AMO. |
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