Progress on political front must now be secured by strong VPAF



Progress on political front must now be secured by strong VPAF
By MICHAEL R. McKAY
In the past four years, seagoing unions--working together through the Maritime Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations--secured real gains in Washington, where, as always, the fate and fortune of the U.S.-flagged merchant fleet are determined: The Maritime Security Program, which sustains a core fleet of sealift-ready U.S. merchant ships in commercial foreign trade, was renewed for 10 years and expanded in scope from 47 ships to 60, beginning in fiscal year 2006 on Oct. 1, 2005. The Jones Act, which holds domestic deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters cargoes for vessels owned, built, flagged and manned in the United States, was shielded from home-grown attack and from increasing diplomatic pressure to weaken or nullify the law through bilateral, regional and multilateral service trade negotiations. Cargo preference laws that set aside specific shares of government-financed imports and exports for privately owned and operated U.S.-flagged merchant vessels endured, despite efforts by some federal agencies to dodge the "ship American" mandates and determined attempts to cut cargo preference spending. Government agencies were made more aware of the economic, national security and environmental risks resulting from continued U.S. dependence on foreign-crewed flag-of-convenience merchant ships for much of the nation's essential peacetime trade and for some military support services. The federal tax code was revised so that U.S.-flag ship owners can pay a tonnage tax instead of a higher corporate income tax on money made in commercial foreign trade. The Maritime Administration in the Department of Transportation began to focus extensively on "short sea" waterborne alternatives to road and rail cargo transportation to ease congestion along coastal corridors, including key routes bordering the Great Lakes. Real plans were drawn for the U.S. construction of double-hulled U.S.-flagged tankers for service in domestic markets. Civilian and military defense planners developed a deeper appreciation of the U.S.-flagged merchant marine and the civilian seagoing workforce as national security assets--a direct result of the ongoing strategic sealift and military support missions tied to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is much real and potential gain for members of American Maritime Officers and their families on each of these fronts, which were summarized in the MTD executive officers' report to the recent MTD quadrennial convention in Chicago. But continued growth and long-term job and benefit security can never be taken for granted. The renewed and expanded Maritime Security Program, for example, will preserve existing AMO jobs and provide new work for our union. But enactment of the legislation that authorized the broader MSP was only the beginning. Under the legislation, the Maritime Security Program must be funded directly each year, first through legislative authorization and then through appropriation, and that means a potential budget brawl in each annual spending cycle through 2015. The MSP's 95-3 strength in the Senate and 362-40 margin in the House of Representatives did not prevent the White House Office of Management and Budget from attempting to pare the program and its funding. OMB's effort failed, but the administration did manage to eliminate funding for the domestic construction of double-hulled tankers to carry defense fuels under Maritime Security Program contracts with MARAD. And, while the Jones Act appears safe, some corporate interests and at least one lawmaker want to exempt the non-contiguous states and territories (Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico) from the law, others hope to exempt specific services between the continental United States and the remote states and territories, and several U.S. trading partners--the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Panama, and the Nordic countries among them--are adamant about someday subjecting the Jones Act and other U.S. merchant fleet promotion laws and programs to negotiation at the trade table. In addition, short sea shipping in the United States cannot be discussed without someone suggesting or openly insisting that the Jones Act's "build and ship American" mandates be repealed. "Some special interest groups have indicated that they will try to use short sea shipping as an excuse to weaken the Jones Act," said the MTD executive officers' report. "(Transportation) Secretary (Norman) Mineta and numerous representatives from the Maritime Administration have stated repeatedly that they strongly oppose any effort to use this promising engine of job growth in such a way." Another endless issue is U.S.-flag cargo preference, which is embodied principally in three statutes--a 1904 law reserving all defense shipments for U.S.-flagged vessels, a 1954 law allocating up to 50 percent of all non-defense imports and exports to American ships, and a 1985 omnibus farm support law provision guaranteeing up to 75 percent of all donated U.S. Department of Agriculture food aid exports for U.S. bottoms. At immediate risk is the Public Law 480 "Food for Peace" program, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2004. "Over the past five decades, Title I of the law has facilitated the sale of some $30 billion worth of (USDA) commodities, while Title II has provided 107 million tons of food aid benefiting 3.4 billion poor and hungry people," the MTD executive officers' report noted. Despite PL-480's conspicuous merit and its specific benefits--humanitarian relief to the world's hungry, a more positive image of the U.S. overseas, productive business for U.S. interests, and jobs for licensed and unlicensed civilian American seafarers--the administration and some in Congress have tried to cut PL-480 spending. This thus-far-unsuccessful effort is likely to continue, despite this observation from MARAD's newly released report to Congress on its programs and activities in fiscal 2004: "The cargo preference laws result in meeting the national security objective by assuring that sufficient sealift capability and intermodal transportation infrastructure exist to support vital homeland and national security interests. All U.S.-flag vessels that carry preference agricultural cargoes and most of the vessels that carry preference general cargoes participate in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement program (VISA) with the Department of Defense and so provide the defense community with 'assured access' to commercial intermodal capacity to move cargo during time of war or national emergency." American Maritime Officers, an affiliate of the Maritime Trades Department through the Seafarers International Union of North America, has always promoted the MTD's legislative agenda, and we will continue to work with MTD President Mike Sacco and our friends in the maritime trades at sea and ashore to protect the legitimate immediate and long-term interests of AMO members in all trades--foreign and domestic, commercial and military--and everyone who lives and works at sea under the U.S. flag in the American merchant marine. Credit for AMO's significant contribution to the cause goes to those AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members who participate in the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund, traditionally one of the most productive funds of its kind in the capital. I urge everyone in our union to join me in continued support of the AMO VPAF, through direct contributions or through vacation benefit check-off. There are mid-term Congressional elections next year and a Presidential contest in 2008, and we will have a lot at stake in both.

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