As the seven recertified stewards came to the podium at last month’s membership meeting in Piney Point, Md. to receive their graduation certificates and say a few words about their experiences, the overriding theme was that of pride: pride in themselves, in their union, in their families and in the jobs they are performing.
Michael Briscoe, Peter Crum, Robert Davis, Michael Gramer, George Maranos, Robert Valentine and Waymond Watson III comprised the latest group of Seafarers to complete the four-week steward recertification curriculum at the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education in Piney Point.
Designed to upgrade members of the steward department and impart upon them culinary, social and union leadership skills, the course is considered the school’s top curriculum for members of the steward department.
During the month-long program, the seven students were exposed to many different facets of steward department training, including menu planning, sanitation, contemporary nutrition, sauces, baking and a variety of culinary demonstrations. It also included computer lab work, fire fighting and small arms training and meetings with SIU department representatives at the Piney Point school, at the headquarters building in Camp Springs, Md. and at the offices of the Maritime Trades Department in Washington, D.C.
Many of the graduates particularly enjoyed the small arms training sessions. As members of the steward department, they don’t expect to use a weapon while aboard ship, but they found it a useful experience and were thankful for the self-defense training.
George Maranos, who ships from the port of Houston, was the first of the graduates to be called to the podium. When he joined the union in the early ’90s, he had been an unemployed victim of a sluggish economy. The union, he stated, took a chance on him and gave him numerous opportunities to work and support his family.
His experiences at Piney Point have been positive ones, and he encouraged the unlicensed apprentices in the audience to use the chances they have been given to build and promote their lives as well. “Grow with us and keep the SIU to its highest standards,” he told them. “Be proud to be a member.”
Robert Valentine comes from a large family of Seafarers. Like many of his classmates, he credits the SIU with helping him turn his life around.
Valentine, who sails from the port of Tacoma, met his wife through his merchant marine career. He told the trainees, “If I can make it, you can, too.” The Paul Hall Center has the best teachers, he continued, but the main focus of his advice to the younger generation was “Take pride in what you do.”
Another of the recertified stewards sailing from Tacoma, Michael Gramer has been a member of the SIU since graduating from the Piney Point trainee program in 1981. This was his seventh time returning to the school for upgrading.
Gramer thanked all the union officials — past and present — for their hard work and dedication to the membership. He noted there are lots of opportunities available within the organization and advised the trainees to take advantage of them.
Robert Davis, who joined the union in 1986 in Honolulu, now sails from the port of Houston. This was his sixth visit to the school, and he believes that the skills he learns each time continue to help him be a better crew member and shipmate.
He congratulated the unlicensed apprentices on a wise and sound decision to join the merchant marine and stressed the need for them to “participate in your safety drills, be informed, know what’s expected of you, and do it well and with pride.”
Michael Briscoe told those in attendance at the meeting that he was proud to have them share in his graduation. “Completing my steward recertification course has been a goal of mine since I left the cruise ships in Hawaii,” he said. Now sailing from the port of Tacoma, Briscoe has been a member since 1983 and has upgraded his skills at the Paul Hall Center five times previously.
The SIU, he told the trainees, “has been there for me time and time again, insuring me living wage jobs, safe working conditions aboard our contracted vessels, and the best available medical coverage for my family, which provides me with peace of mind while I am away.” He added that when his children are old enough, they will have an opportunity to become “part of this proud tradition or go on to college with the help of our union-sponsored scholarship program and forge their own dreams and way of life.”
In discussing the benefits of belonging to the SIU, Briscoe also spoke about the responsibilities. “Present and future members have and will continue to be there when our country calls to deliver the goods . . . No matter the risks, the SIU membership will proudly and unselfishly take their places in the galleys, on the decks or down in the engine rooms on board our nation’s vessels and continue to sail into harm’s way whenever and wherever we are needed.”
This was Peter Crum’s fifth visit to the school for upgrading. A graduate of trainee class 434, himself, the recertified steward was in a good position to advise the future members that by working hard and staying focused, they also could reach the highest level in their chosen department.
Crum sails from the port of Mobile, Ala.
Waymond Watson III thanked the SIU for the tremendous opportunity it has given him over the years to travel to places that most people only dream of. “Twenty years ago, I was a kid on the street with no college or degree,” he said. Watson was the third of this group of recertified stewards to have graduated from the school’s trainee program. He was in class 387.
Watson, who ships from the port of Jacksonville, Fla., told the trainees that when they graduate and become members in good standing with the union, they, too, will become part of a foundation upon which this union is always building. And some of the benefits of their union membership, he noted, are continuous employment, great health benefits and prosperity to afford one’s family the best of everything.
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