The Seafarers International Union of North America last month issued a charter to its newest affiliate, the American Maritime Officers (AMO). This affiliation returns the AMO to its roots—it was originally chartered in 1949 under the direction of former SIU President Paul Hall as the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers, then an SIUNA affiliate.
Like the 12 other SIUNA affiliates, the AMO will remain an autonomous union that elects its own officials, negotiates its own contracts and participates in its own pension and medical plans. Additionally, it will continue to operate under its own constitution and bylaws, shipping rules and job dispatch system. In accordance with the SIUNA constitution, the AMO will have one vice president on the SIUNA executive board.“The affiliation of the American Maritime Officers with the SIUNA is good news for the entire U.S. Merchant Marine and for all of America’s working families,” said SIUNA President Michael Sacco, who also serves as a vice president of the AFL-CIO executive council. “This affiliation lets U.S. mariners speak with a more unified voice and helps ensure that our organizations can work together to make the U.S.-flag fleet stronger. It also strengthens the ranks of the AFL-CIO—the greatest ally of the American worker.”
AMO President Michael McKay pointed out that the affiliation “benefits not only our membership, but America’s national and economic security. As we saw most recently during Operation Iraqi Freedom, our country’s interests are best-served by a strong U.S. fleet. This affiliation will help in the ongoing fight to revitalize the U.S. Merchant Marine and, by extension, help boost national security.”
McKay noted that AMO’s 10-year effort to rejoin the AFL-CIO has now been realized. The union lost its link to the AFL-CIO when it withdrew from another organization in 1994. It has sought to regain standing in the labor federation ever since.
The SIUNA provides protection under the AFL-CIO charter from being raided by other unions, by being involved in political and legislative activities and by offering policy input to the AFL-CIO. Under this system, each affiliate represents its members directly.
The affiliation agreement “represents a real advance toward the ideal of one union representing all licensed and unlicensed U.S. merchant mariners,” stated McKay. “It also establishes a formal connection between the most powerful licensed and unlicensed seagoing unions, strengthening a friendship that has endured for generations.”
Chartered in 1938 by the AFL, the SIUNA is now the parent organization of 13 different unions, each one autonomous. These unions represent a combined 84,000 members in such varied occupations as mariners, government employees, manufacturers, daycare workers and more. Maritime unions under the banner of the SIUNA include the Seafarers International Union-Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters District/ National Maritime Union; the American Maritime Officers; the Marine Firemen’s Union; the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific; the Seafarers International Union of Canada; and the Seafarers International Union of Puerto Rico, Caribe and Latin America.
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