If you haven’t seen me aboard a ship you probably know someone who has. I have been serving as MM&P’s West Coast Port Agent for nearly 8 years and I have met ships frequently in Oakland, San Francisco, and LA/Long Beach. I have found that it takes going up the gangway regularly to earn members’ trust.
The first gangway I went up was the WWII Liberty Ship John W. Brown in Baltimore where I grew up. I was 11 years old. Over the next seven years, I volunteered aboard the ship with Merchant Marine Veterans. That experience helped shape my world view and made me want to go to sea. I got my Z-Card at sixteen to sail as a crew member of the ship and we went to many ports on the East Coast including New York, Boston, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I joined Masters, Mates & Pilots in 1999 the day I graduated USMMA magna cum laude. My first job was the Capt. H.A. Downing with American Heavy Lift which I joined in Corpus Christi. Over the next nine years of my career, I sailed in and out of the Gulf and East Coast on many vessels with many different companies. I moved to the West Coast with my wife, Dawn, and our two children, Nic and Taylor, in 2008 where I sailed Off-the-Board. My last job before being hired as MM&P Agent for Pacific Ports in 2013 was as Chief Mate of the Matsonia.
I have been a key part of the contract negotiations on four of MM&P’s highest paying Contracts: the landmark Matson Contract in which we negotiated a single tier, Matson Alaska, the two APL Contract re-openers in which we won significant gains, Sunrise/Pasha Reopener and continued negotiation and litigation to be aboard Pasha’s new-builds. I’ve sat in on MEBA negotiations as an observer and they in ours so that the employers understand our solidarity. I’ve worked closely with three current and past ILWU Local 10 Presidents, the Alameda and the San Francisco Labor Councils, SUP, MEBA, IBU, MFOW, ARA, and SIU. I’m serving my second term on the board of the San Francisco Marine Exchange and have been a member of the Council of American Master Mariners since 2013.
I’ve worked on dozens of grievances, quite a few to arbitration, helping get members’ jobs back after wrongful terminations, recouping tens of thousands of dollars in wages, and enforcing the contracts. For nearly eight years I have had a good working relationship with two Offshore employers that have Government contracts, Patriot and Matson.
I back up the West Coast job call and make sure shipping is done transparently and by the Shipping Rules. Concerns are handled at job call.
Port Agent has prepared me well to be Vice President of Gulf Ports and Government Contracts. I am an independent thinker and I work within MM&P and with our labor allies to build consensus.
Click here for my Vision for the Gulf
