Membership of AMO eases turnover of LMSRs to AMSEA fleet



Membership of AMO eases turnover of LMSRs to AMSEA fleet
By MICHAEL R. McKAY
In Philadelphia late in April, American Overseas Marine Corp. (AMSEA) assumed management of the large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off sealift ships USNS Mendonca and USNS Seay for the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command. AMSEA, which has collective bargaining agreements with American Maritime Officers, had already welcomed a third LMSR, the USNS Shughart, to its fleet. Meanwhile, the ships' former operator--Patriot Contract Services, which has officers' labor contracts with the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association--was in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, arguing for a preliminary injunction to block the transfer of six more LMSRs from Patriot to AMSEA. These developments were the latest in a seemingly endless controversy that began routinely enough in September 2004, when MSC announced that it had selected AMSEA to manage, operate and maintain nine LMSRs that had been chartered to Patriot for the previous five years. Days earlier, MSC said two additional LMSRs then in the Patriot fleet, the USNS Gordon and USNS Gilliland, would be operated by 3PSC LLC under small business set-aside rules. 3PSC employs AMO in all licensed positions. Two U.S.-flagged merchant ship operators that had competed for the USNS Gordon and USNS Gilliland charter brought unsuccessful challenge to 3PSC's standing as a small business, but Patriot appeared resigned to losing the two ships and the revenue, profit and jobs they represented. The company focused instead on the 9 ships that had been awarded by MSC to AMSEA. Patriot protested the AMSEA charter award before the Government Accountability Office (GAO), but withdrew its action. In December 2004, Patriot filed suit in federal court, asking that the LMSR charter revert to Patriot or that MSC be directed to issue a new Request for Proposals (RFP) covering the 9 ships. Meanwhile, MSC extended Patriot's LMSR charter through the second quarter of 2005 because the ships were active in Operation Iraqi Freedom III. Patriot--aided by the MM&P and MEBA, which have no legal standing in the LMSR charter dispute--has suggested strongly and consistently that our union cannot man the AMSEA LMSRs because the AMO membership is deficient in number, skill and experience. But we know better. There are some important, relevant and increasingly conspicuous truths in the way of Patriot's argument: AMO members earn their engine and deck licenses in the same ways members of the MM&P and MEBA do--by completing four years of study and practical training at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy or one of six state-operated maritime academies, or by accumulating unlicensed time and qualifying for original licenses. Either way, they take--and pass--the same U.S. Coast Guard original and raise-of-grade license exams administered to members of the other officers' unions, and they hold the same STCW '95 demonstrated proficiency certifications required by the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations. AMO has more LMSR experience than either the MM&P or MEBA. Our union was aboard five of the LMSRs covered by the AMSEA and 3PSC charters during the ships' initial five-year charter period, and we man eight additional LMSRs operated for MSC by Maersk Line Limited. AMO has already manned the USNS Gilliland under the 3PSC charter and the USNS Shughart, USNS Mendonca and USNS Seay under the AMSEA charter, and the transition has gone smoothly each time. Our union is ready to man the USNS Gordon under the 3PSC charter and the USNS Bob Hope, USNS Fisher, USNS Benavidez, USNS Brittin and USNS Pililaau under the AMSEA charter in the next two months in compliance with MSC's turnover schedule. AMO is the only U.S. merchant marine officers' union on record with an unqualified commitment to man the LMSRs and any other sealift ship under any circumstance--without regard to union jurisdiction--in the interests of national security and sustaining U.S. armed forces in combat overseas. MEBA served notice on MSC that it would never man sealift vessels operated by AMO employers, even in the event of a severe wartime shortage of licensed seagoing civilian personnel. In a letter to each member of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2004, I said: "AMO--the largest private sector source of licensed seagoing labor for ships operated under MSC and Maritime Administration charter--understands the national security significance of the LMSR fleet and all other MSC-chartered ships. We remain absolutely committed to the purpose--the safe, efficient and uninterrupted shipment of supplies and equipment to U.S. armed forces overseas, especially those at war in Iraq and Afghanistan." One week later, I joined AMSEA President Peter Lawrence and Seafarers International Union President Michael Sacco in written comments on the issue to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The letter to the Senators challenged Patriot's suggestion that "AMSEA and its contracted unions ... are not in a position to fulfill the terms of the contract" and set the record straight on "misrepresentations" made by Patriot and other parties of interest. "We fully understand that Patriot is protesting the award as the outcome represents a major loss of business for the company and, in turn, its unions," our letter said. "We also appreciate your interest in assuring that the process was conducted at the highest level of integrity, and that U.S. sealift and support of our troops are not undermined--AMSEA, AMO and the SIU are proud of the service we provide to U.S. sealift and pledge our continued commitment." It is possible that a court decision will have come down in the Patriot-AMSEA LMSR case by the time this issue of American Maritime Officer gets around. But I am confident that such order--whenever it arrives--will let the AMSEA charter stand. But my comments here are important for the public record, and their substance will not change no matter twists and turns this dispute may take. Meanwhile, I offer my thanks to the AMO membership for proving our union right on the LMSR licensed manpower question. No one can challenge their professional abilities effectively, and no one can shake their exclusively absolute commitment to U.S. defense sealift under all circumstances.

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