New guidelines for optional non-resident training

New guidelines for optional non-resident training

      The training centers operated for AMO members have adopted new guidelines for optional non-resident training.
      The guidelines, approved late in May, are intended to eliminate duplication of training while preserving "convenience and choice for AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members," said Steve Nickerson, executive director of American Maritime Officers Plans.
      Beginning July 15, all AMO members requesting non-resident training will be encouraged to take the specific class or classes at the Raymond T. McKay Centers for Advanced Maritime Officers' Training and RTM Simulation, Training, Assessment and Research Centers operated by the AMO Safety and Education Plan in Dania Beach, Fla., and Toledo, Oh.
      Nickerson said non-resident training "will remain available." But expanded curricula and class schedules at CAMOT and STAR Center "have made the non-resident option less appealing to many AMO members."
      The non-resident training program was established by CAMOT and STAR Center to more easily accommodate AMO members in need of endorsements required under STCW '95, the International Maritime Organization's Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. U.S. mariners without STCW endorsements cannot work on vessels that sail beyond the U.S. boundary line.
      CAMOT and STAR Center provide complete STCW training, but the non-resident program has at times proved helpful to both AMO members and to the training centers. Under the program, AMO members have obtained appropriate and timely STCW certification at other approved training sites, when classes were full in Dania Beach or Toledo, or when other circumstances justified it. In such cases, the AMO Safety and Education Plan has paid for the training upon approval by CAMOT and STAR Center administration.
      But now that the February 2002 deadline for STCW compliance has passed, and because most AMO members subject to STCW requirements have obtained the necessary endorsements, there is less demand for for non-resident training, Nickerson said.
      "The AMO Plans have always been about options and opportunities for all AMO members, and our training centers reflect that commitment," Nickerson said. "Now, with the STCW burden eased, and with commercial considerations no longer a principal focus, CAMOT and STAR Center offer more advantage than ever--AMO members recognize the schools as assets to be used used and enjoyed for their benefit to the greatest possible, practical extent."
      He added: "No other training program available to licensed U.S. merchant marine officers can match CAMOT and STAR Center. No other program offers as many Coast Guard-approved courses. The AMO Safety and Education Plan is determined to make CAMOT and STAR Center even more effective, more impressive, and more conducive to the professional advancement that has always been the standard in the AMO Safety and Education Plan's program."
      Nickerson said greater direct membership use of CAMOT and STAR Center will in many cases eliminate redundancy and save money for the AMO Safety and Education Plan. "CAMOT and STAR Center do what other officers' training centers do, but they do more of it, and they do it better," he said. "However, the schools are financed entirely by employer contributions to the AMO Safety and Education Plan, which should not pay for training within the union and elsewhere when there is no compelling need to do so."
      Nickerson said non-resident training will continue to be an option for union members. "There are times when it makes sense," he said. Non-resident training would be appropriate "for someone needing radar recertification, someone who wants to upgrade his license through self-study, or someone who needs a specific course so he can take a short-notice job on a ship under Military Sealift Command charter," Nickerson said. "But these are just examples. Each case is different, so each case will be considered for approval individually."
      AMO members seeking additional information or requesting non-resident training after July 15 are asked to call CAMOT and STAR Center Student Services at 1-800-942-3220 ext. 7109.

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