We recently announced the newly elected E-board members position for Stewards and Engine Rep. We failed to confirm the eligibility of all nominees prior to voting, and we apologize to all, for our mistake. According to the Union’s Constitution, a member in good standing, entails that all union dues are remitted regardless of pay status. The good standing status must be obtained within a set time period, prior to nomination for an elected position (ie-Patrolman, E-Board Member, Ship Delegate).

After another vote was taken by the E-Board, we would like to officially congratulate and welcome Paul Lorentz as our 2nd Engine room rep.

Hello members,

Minimum Qualifications for positions have been added to website under new web page.  Page is titled “MQ’s” and is located next to “Forms and Salary Schedules.”

you can also click this link: MQ’s

Hello Members,

I thought this would be a good link for people to know about. It includes LOA’s for unions that the state currently has contracts with, including IBU. We are also working on compiling LOA’s that we have in our offices that pertain to our members as a whole or with a vessel. For those who don’t know, LOA stands for Letters of Agreement and they are amendments made to provisions already agreed upon in a contract. Sometimes these LOA’s are produced to address a specific issue or alter/clarify language in a contract. They are either temporary with a specific end date or will be for the duration of the contract dates.

LOA Library – State of Alaska

Hello members,

We have new payroll techs for IBU:

Last names A-B & S-Z: Karen Nowak – (907) 465-4042

Last names C-H: Brittney Willhite – (907) 465-1751

Last names I-R: Danelle Beck – (907) 465-1750

We had some great nominees who put their name in the hat and anyone one of those candidates would’ve been a great asset to our Executive board. The E-board member’s votes have been tallied and Skylar Hudson has been elected for the steward rep position and Jessica Palma has been elected for the engine rep position for our Executive board. We welcome our newest additions and look forward to their involvement!

A big shoutout to our members for making a kind gesture and show of support by bringing pizza for the Union and management for our first Labor Management Committee meeting!

We’d like to specifically thank Pam Bushnell, Antonio Caliwanagan, Dave Christianson, Monica Davis, Michelle Drefke, Denise Gray, Paul Lorentz, Lamin Marenah, and Cathy Rozier. Apologies if anyone’s name was left out.

Brothers and Sisters,

The Government has temporarily re-opened until February 15th, 2019! If anyone has pending or new documents they need to file with the USCG, please note that their offices are temporarily open should you need to contact them.

Brothers and Sisters,

We had a very progressive meeting yesterday with a recently formed Labor Management Committee (LMC) to specifically address dispatch topics. Some of the main topics addressed were vacation approval issues and the dispatching process, mariner documents and the government shut down, use of a 3-day Unfit for Duty (UFFD) in yards, yard swaps, and vessel manning issues.

Vacation approval and dispatch process: The process of approving vacations is as follows: a request is submitted a minimum of 30 days prior to your preferred date(s), 20 days prior to that date dispatch will either approve or deny it based on current manning needs for the vessels. If two requests conflict with one another where only one can be approved, seniority will be observed.  We realize that in order to properly understand the vacation approval process in its entirety, it’s necessary for us to firstly understand how dispatching works. Mark Hillberry and I, and potentially another member, will tentatively be shadowing dispatch early February. We’re hopeful that with better understanding of the dispatch process, we can have a more educated approach to addressing vacation approval issues.

Mariner documents with government shutdown: Currently, the USCG has approved waivers for MMC national endorsements only that have December, January, or February expiration dates which will remain valid until April 30^th, 2019. It is recommended that you carry the following document titled “MMC Link” on the IBU webpage with your MMC: https://ibupak.org/wp-content/uploads/fiscal_year_appropriations_mitigation_update_20190124.pdf. AMHS is complying with the USCG waiver in terms of considering your MMC as valid, however, they are adhering to their policy of requiring proper and valid qualifications and endorsements for dispatching certain positions. To learn more about this and how it potentially affects you, refer to the post titled “AMHS Stance on Expired Documents”: https://ibupak.org/2019/01/25/amhs-stance-on-expired-documents/

3-day UFFD in yards: There was cause for concern from management about using the 3-day unfit in yards more than once. We expressed to them that in longer yard periods, there’s a likely possibility for a person to be sick on two or more different occasions for the duration of the yard period. They took our concerns into consideration and will be having internal discussions on the matter.

Yard swaps: We voiced our concern about our inability to utilize more members for yard swaps due to the AMHS policy of requiring a lifeboat certificate for positions that have lifeboat duties. The union is trying to work out a process that would allow a member who doesn’t have a lifeboat certificate to work a yard position with the stipulation that all vessel-specific amount of COI lifeboat endorsement qualifications are met.

Vessel manning issues: It’s well known that AMHS has now opened their hiring period to year-round due to manning shortages. At the same time, some vessels have had certain positions suspended which has negatively affected the balance of the workload. This is an ongoing discussion and the Union is trying to establish a consistent and appropriate manning level to properly handle the workload.

Overall, we felt the meeting went very well and both sides met in good faith to address important issues brought up by our members. We look forward to continuing our Labor Management Committee and building our relationship with AMHS.

In our Labor Management Committee (LMC) meeting, we discussed the issues several members have faced regarding either their MMC or Medical Certificate expiration date with the government shutdown.

From what we currently understand, the USCG has approved waivers for MMC national endorsements only that have December, January, or February expiration dates which will remain valid until April 30^th, 2019. It is recommended that you carry the following document titled “MMC Link” on the IBU webpage with your MMC:                                    https://ibupak.org/wp-content/uploads/fiscal_year_appropriations_mitigation_update_20190124.pdf.

If you have a position that requires STCW endorsements, such as OS and above in the Deck Department and Oiler and above in the Engine Department which require Ratings Forming Part of a Navigational/Engineering Watch (RFPNW/RFPEW), those are no longer valid if your MMC or 2-year Medical Certificate has expired and therefore cannot work a position that requires them.

What this translates to is AMHS will only utilize you in entry-level, non-watch standing positions such as Watchman, OSP, Porter, Wiper, Steward. However, if the need arises, AMHS will consider dispatching those same members into their respective job class AFTER members with current MMC National/STCW endorsements, regardless of seniority.

Since AMHS is willing to sail members with expired STCW endorsements in their respective job class, the Union has opened discussion to talk about possible reconsiderations of dispatching per seniority despite the expired STCW endorsements.

Hello Members,

Please note that an updated memorandum came out from the National Maritime Center regarding MMC expiration extensions.

See the Memo here : NMC Memo Update