The union’s executive board last month approved SIU President Michael Sacco’s recommendations that Augie Tellez become the executive vice president of the SIU’s Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters District/NMU and that George Tricker serve as vice president of contracts and contracts enforcement.These appointments were made in accordance with Article X of the union’s constitution.
Tellez succeeds the late John Fay as executive vice president. He has a long record of service and accomplishment with the SIU, including serving the past 14 years as vice president contracts. Tellez was appointed to that position in 1991 and subsequently was elected to the same post by the union’s membership in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Tellez worked his way up through the ranks, starting with the SIU in 1975 after graduating from the entry program at the Paul Hall Center’s Lundeberg School of Seamanship. He sailed from the union’s Brooklyn, N.Y. hiring hall as an able bodied seaman before coming ashore.
He served the union in various capacities in Jacksonville, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; Tampa; Paducah, Ky.; Baltimore; and Houston. In 1980, he became the port agent for the SIU’s headquarters port, located in Brooklyn.
Tellez in 1987 relocated to what had become the union’s new headquarters in Camp Springs, Md., where he served as special assistant to the president. That same year, he was elected as the vice president for the Seafarers International Union of North America—the parent union of the SIU’s seagoing component. A year later, he became the assistant vice president for contracts and contracts enforcement.
Tricker also joined the SIU after completing the trainee program, in 1979. He sailed in the deck department aboard deep sea vessels and also sailed in the inland division with Crowley. He upgraded three times at the Paul Hall Center before coming ashore in 1990 to work for the union.
In 1991, Tricker served as a patrolman on the West Coast. Later that year, he became port agent in Wilmington, Calif. Tricker was active in the local port council and the central labor council throughout his years in Wilmington.
In 1997, Tricker transferred to SIU headquarters after being appointed assistant vice president contracts—a position he has held ever since, and to which he was elected in 2000 and again in 2004. He extensively has been involved in most of the union’s contract negotiations since then, and in many cases played a leading role in helping secure favorable agreements.
He also helped organize the cruise ship Pride of Aloha when the vessel joined the U.S.-flag fleet last year.
Additionally, the executive board approved the appointments of Steve Judd as assistant vice president contracts and Chris Westbrook as New Orleans port agent.
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