A hard decision and a standard worth defending

A hard decision and a standard worth defending

By Don Cree
National Vice President, Great Lakes

The decision to call for a strike vote is one of the hardest I have to make as a union official. When it comes to preserving the wages, benefits and standards achieved by American Maritime Officers through long and intense battles over the years, it is a decision that must sometimes be faced.

The officers and stewards working aboard three Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company vessels faced this decision when they walked off the boats after the union's negotiations with the company on an economic re-opener reached a deadlock in May. Although obvious, I think it's worth saying the decision to put your job on the line is daunting--most everyone has a mortgage and a car payment, and could end up starting over with a different company.

To a person and to their credit, each of them made the hard decision and the right choice for themselves and their brothers and sisters in our union. The strike is now in its fourth month. It is the longest strike in AMO's history on the Great Lakes.

Despite the challenges it presents, this strike was the right course of action at the beginning and is the right one now. It is a decision made by a union's membership when a strike is the only viable option remaining. In our negotiations with Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship, the alternative is for AMO to risk jurisdiction and job security for the sake of a new--and possibly very temporary--agreement covering the David Z, Earl W and Wolverine.

Our pattern agreement, which other AMO-contracted companies on the lakes have accepted, includes language stipulating that, if the ownership of a vessel changes hands, the AMO officers and stewards stay with the vessel at the same wage and benefit levels at the time of the sale of the vessel.

This principle is the source of our impasse with Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship and it is a standard well worth defending. It is also the primary reason we maintained the jobs on these vessels when they were purchased by Wisconsin & Michigan from Oglebay Norton in 2006. It's no secret that Wisconsin & Michigan has already attempted to sell one or more of these vessels, and they have informed us that our determination to hold jurisdiction has made selling the vessels extremely difficult.

If we were willing to sacrifice permanent representation of the engineers, mates and stewards on the David Z, Earl W and Wolverine, we might be able to reach an agreement to put AMO members back on those vessels in short order. However, if the vessels are sold, those jobs could disappear just as quickly.

The role of the union goes beyond securing jobs for its membership. Providing benefit security is of equal importance. As union officials, it is our responsibility to defend our pattern agreement to maintain that security for all of our members sailing on the Great Lakes.

In the bigger picture, our Great Lakes fleet operates under contracts based on the pattern agreement. If we sacrifice continued jurisdiction to appease one company, you can be sure it would be the first item other companies drop on the table in future negotiations with AMO. If we concede now, if we concede once, we put the stability of our Great Lakes job base in jeopardy.

Our negotiations with other operators over the past year haven't been much easier. The willingness of this union to take a stand and go the distance has been a deciding factor in successful negotiations. It's worth noting we have a tentative agreement pending ratification with Hannah Marine, which operates two cement carriers through subsidiaries. This agreement mirrors our pattern agreement and would ensure continued representation by AMO beyond the term of the agreement.

This strike against Wisconsin & Michigan has the full support of the mariners it involves and those mariners have the full support of their union. All of the officers and stewards who walked off the David Z, Earl W and Wolverine and wanted to continue working have been given job assignments with other companies.

With a strike this long and under these circumstances, I do not know what the outcome will be. Nonetheless, it stands as a testament to our solidarity and our dedication to defending the solid AMO standard on the Great Lakes.

Front Page

Return To Section-Front