AMO officers work in a broad range of domestic and international trades aboard U.S.-flagged vessels in the deep-sea sector, including oil and product tankers, containerships, roll-on/roll-off ships, heavy-lift ships, trailer ships, general cargo vessels, and the only U.S.-owned fleet of undersea cable installation and repair ships.
AMO officers work in the Military Sealift Command fleet of large medium-speed roll-on/roll-off vessels (LMSRs) and aboard military prepositioning vessels, fast sealift ships, product tankers, Ready Reserve Force ships, and several others operated by private-sector ship managers for MSC and the Maritime Administration.
AMO has pioneered new job opportunities for American officers in the international fleet. AMO officers work aboard international liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers operating worldwide.
At the Simulation, Training, Assessment & Research (STAR) Center, operated by the AMO Safety &Education Plan, AMO officers, have access to the only LNG training program in the U.S.[2] certified to the standards of the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO). With developed international equivalencies, AMO officers can crew vessels registered with more than a dozen flag states.
At STAR Center, AMO officers also have access to a comprehensive dynamic positioning (DP) training program accredited by the Nautical Institute.
AMO represents the officers and stewards in the majority of the U.S. Great Lakes fleets. AMO also has collective bargaining agreements covering ocean-going, harbor tugs, and inland towboats.
AMO members and their families draw employer-paid benefits from the AMO Medical, Vacation, Pension, and Defined Contribution Plans, the Pension Plan Money Purchase Benefit, and from individual accounts through the AMO 401(k) Plan.
The AMO Safety & Education Plan provides AMO members and applicants with comprehensive maritime training, license upgrading, and STCW certification programs at the STAR Center in Dania Beach, Florida. These training programs, including lodging and meals, are available to AMO officers at no cost at STAR Center. The former STAR center in Toledo, Ohio was closed in 2008, and training for AMO officers has been consolidated at the site in Florida.[3]
History
Paul Hall ordered the creation of AMO.The AMO Safety & Education Plan operates the STAR Center, which provides licensing and professional development courses.AMO's Great Lakes operations are headquartered in Toledo, Ohio.
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AMO was chartered on May 12, 1949, as an affiliate of the Seafarer's International Union of North America. At the time it was called the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers. Labor leader Paul Hall was a founding figure. The original membership consisted entirely of civilian seafaring veterans of World War II.[5] In 1953 at the SIUNA Convention, the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers gained autonomy, allowing it to adopt a constitution and elect officers.[6]
The first constitution was drafted by Edward Reisman, Rudolph Wunsch, James Wilde, Everett Landers, Peter Geipi, and William Lovvorn,[7] who "wanted to craft a document that would provide for free and fair elections, set the terms of office for official positions, specify the duties of union officials, provide for charges, trials, and appeals, permit rank and file membership inspection of the union's financial records, and permit amendments by rank and file vote".[7] The constitution was adopted, with 96 percent of membership voting for adoption. The constitution called for the election of a president, two vice-presidents, and a secretary-treasurer.[7] Wilbur Dickey was elected first president on December 15, 1953.
In September 1954, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) recognized the fledgling union, by granting it "exclusive jurisdiction within the federation over 'licensed engine room personnel on self-propelled vessels'".[8]
The BME Welfare Plan was growing at an impressive rate under the care of Director of Welfare and Special Services Ray McKay. In August 1954, he reported its assets to be in excess of $100,000.[9] The plan offered a number of progressive benefits, such as full surgery coverage for members and their families, and full coverage for seeing a physician. In February 1955, the union began pursuing the "first pension plan ever for U.S. merchant marine officers", which was well underway by November 1955.[9] In 1957, Wilbur Dickey resigned the union's presidency and Ray McKay took the position on January 17, 1957.[10] Later that year, on October 29, 1957, McKay and then-president of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association H.L. Daggett signed an accord leading BME to merge with several MEBA locals.[11] The newly formed entity was known as MEBA's Great Lakes District Local 101.[5] In 1960 after an internal reorganization of MEBA, this entity was now known as "District 2 MEBA".[5]
In 1992, while functioning as an autonomous union within MEBA, "District 2" reverted to the original "American Maritime Officers".[5] AMO finally withdrew from MEBA in 1994[5] and as a result lost its affiliation with the AFL-CIO.[12] It was, however, restored on March 12, 2004, when Michael Sacco presented AMO with a charter from SIUNA.[12]
Today, AMO thrives as a national union representing licensed officers in all sectors of the United States merchant fleet—including ocean-going, Great Lakes and inland waters—aboard a wide range of commercial and military support vessels, as well commercial vessels operating in the international energy transportation trades. Tom Bethel was elected national president of AMO in June 2008, defeating challengers Jack Hearn and Paul Cates in the election. On January 8, 2007, Tom Bethel was appointed by the AMO national executive committee to fulfill the term of former president Michael McKay.[13] Bethel was at that time serving as AMO's national executive vice president. He was first elected national executive vice president January 1, 2001, by a margin of 796–421 over challenger Richard Ouellette.
In the 2006 union election, Bethel ran on a slate of candidates, which included then-incumbent national president Michael McKay and then-incumbent national secretary-treasurer Robert McKay. In the election, Michael McKay was re-elected national president and Robert McKay was defeated.
On January 5, 2007, Michael and Robert McKay were convicted of racketeering charges. Michael McKay was convicted of "three counts of mail fraud and two recordkeeping offenses. He was found not guilty of embezzling from an employee benefit plan".[14]
McKay's brother, former AMO National Secretary-Treasurer Robert McKay, was convicted of two counts of mail fraud, embezzlement, and two recordkeeping offenses.[14] The father served as AMO president for 36 years.[14]
The strike was called on May 9, 2007,[17] when the company "refused to sign a pattern agreement already agreed to by three other Great Lakes operators".[17] The union stated that job security and benefits were the key unresolved issues.[16] AMO members, including deck officers, marine engineer, and stewards[15] walked off the ships on May 10, 2007.[17] The strike delayed the Wolverine's arrival in port.[17]
The ships stood idle in Sarnia, Ontario for some time.[15] The strike cost the company $1 million in losses in the second quarter of 2007, according to Trade Winds.[15] The collective bargaining agreement covering these ships expired in July 2007.[15] All three vessels were sold by Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company in 2008 to Rand Logistics. One of the three, the Wolverine, was subsequently removed from the U.S. fleet and transferred to Canadian registry.
Controversy
In August 2002, AMO was served with a summons and complaint by a former Plan employee alleging that AMO tortiously interfered in his employment. After a trial in 2009, the jury cleared AMO of the tortious interference charge.[18]
During the fiscal year ending in March 2006, AMO discovered that the former National Vice-president Deep Sea, Thomas Kelly, entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. government. In the agreement he pleaded to one count charging him with embezzling $32,500 by submitting false and inflated expense vouchers from 1996 to 2001. The labor organization has initiated steps to recover the amount of the loss.[13][18]
AMO is named as a respondent in a charge before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in New York. As of the filing of this form, the outcome of this litigation is not known.[18]
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act, on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War I efforts. The program ended on March 2, 1934.
The International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots or MM&P is a United States labor union representing licensed mariners.
The Seafarers International Union or SIU is an organization of 12 autonomous labor unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard vessels flagged in the United States or Canada. Michael Sacco was its president from 1988 until 2023. The organization has an estimated 35,498 members and is the largest maritime labor organization in the United States. Organizers founded the union on October 14, 1938. The Seafarers International Union arose from a charter issued to the Sailors Union of the Pacific by the American Federation of Labor as a foil against loss of jobs to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its Communist Party-aligned faction.
Shannon J. Wall was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. He was president of the National Maritime Union from 1973 to 1990. His father and mother ran a small dry cleaning company.
The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America in 2001.
Paul Hall was an American labor leader from Inglenook in Jefferson County, Alabama. He was a founding member and president of the Seafarers International Union (SIU) from 1957 to 1980. He was the senior vice president of the AFL–CIO at the time of his death.
Andrew Furuseth of Åsbygda, Hedmark, Norway was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. Furuseth was active in the formation of two influential maritime unions: the Sailors' Union of the Pacific and the International Seamen's Union, and served as the executive of both for decades.
The first USS Theodore Roosevelt (ID-1478) was a United States Navy troop transport in commission from 1918 to 1919.
Thomas J. Bethel is an American labor leader. He was elected national president of American Maritime Officers in 2008. He was reelected as AMO National President in 2010. He had been appointed as the national president of the American Maritime Officers union (AMO) on January 8, 2007 by the union's National Executive Committee. Bethel formerly served as AMO's national executive vice-president, which is the third highest position in the union.
Raymond T. McKay was an American labor leader. He was president of American Maritime Officers (AMO) from 1957 until his death in 1993.
Michael McKay is a convicted racketeer and former labor leader from the United States. He was president of American Maritime Officers (AMO) from 1993 until his conviction in 2007.
The maritime history of the United States is a broad theme within the history of the United States. As an academic subject, it crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding the United States' relationship with the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. The focus is on merchant shipping, and the financing and manning of the ships. A merchant marine owned at home is not essential to an extensive foreign commerce. In fact, it may be cheaper to hire other nations to handle the carrying trade than to participate in it directly. On the other hand, there are certain advantages, particularly during time of war, which may warrant an aggressive government encouragement to the maintenance of a merchant marine.
The Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA) is the oldest maritime trade union in the United States still currently in existence, established in 1875. MEBA primarily represents licensed mariners, especially deck and engine officers working in the United States Merchant Marine aboard US-flagged vessels. It is a member union of the AFL–CIO.
The maritime history of the United States (1800–1899) saw an expansion of naval activity.
The United States merchant marine forces matured during the maritime history of the United States (1900–1999).
The maritime history of the United States (2000–) delineates the continued readiness of the American merchant marine.
Sealift Incorporated is an American shipping company based in Oyster Bay, New York. The privately held corporation was founded in 1975 by the four owners who remain the principal executives. Sealift Inc. is one of the largest ocean contractors for transporting U.S. food aid and participates in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement. Between the start of fiscal 2000 and the first quarter of 2008, Sealift Inc. was awarded US$402,151,046 in contracts.
SS Aquarama was built as Marine Star, one of five breakbulk cargo ships of the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) type C4-S-B5 having that C4 design variant. The ship was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) for operation in July 1945 just before the end of World War II and was operated until August 1946 by WSA's agent American Hawaiian SS Company. From September 1947 the ship was laid up except for brief periods in the James River.
Harry Coulby was an American businessman known as the "Czar of the Great Lakes" for his expertise in managing the Great Lakes shipping fleet of Pickands Mather & Company and the Pittsburgh Steamship Company. After retiring, he served as the first mayor of the newly incorporated town of Wickliffe, Ohio. His former home, Coulallenby, now serves as the city hall of Wickliffe. He chose the design for Great Lakes ore carriers in 1905 that became the standard for the next 65 years, and was elected to the National Maritime Hall of Fame in 1984.
The Interlake Steamship Company is an American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes in North America. It is now part of Interlake Maritime Services.
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