AWO
(continued from page 29)
of the ripple effect on steel produc-
ers, equipment suppliers and var-
ious other service industries, it
has provided additional employ-
ment opportunities for 175,000
people. Every legislative or regu-
latory attempt to admit foreign
built vessels in contravention to
the Jones Act, does nothing but
weaken the Act's principles and
eventually could cause its demise.
The AWSC and its member com-
panies are supportive and depend-
ent on the integrity of the Act, and
will continue to vigorously defend
it.
On another issue, reform of the
Longshoremen's Act may become
a reality in 1984. Both the Senate
and the House have passed ver-
sions of the Longshore Reform
Bill, and the differences must now
go to Conference Committee. House
and Senate staffers are diligently
trying to arrive at reasonable com-
promises. There are, however,
many areas where the bills agree
and which go to the heart of the
economic problems caused by the
1972 amendments to the Act. Areas
of agreement include: a) 5% cap
on the annual benefit escalator; b)
Repeal of the unrelated death ben-
efit provision; c) A cap on death
benefits at 200% of the national
average weekly wage conforming
it to disability benefits; d) Codifi-
cation of the Supreme Court's Hil-
lyer decision, precluding fringe
benefits from wages in calculating
an employee's average weekly
wage; e) Imposes an offset for any
other worker's compensation or
Jones Act benefits received; f) De-
barment of medical providers and
claim representatives for fraud,
raises the penalty for misrepresen-
tation from a misdemeanor to a fe-
lony, requires semi-annual reports
of outside earnings, and author-
izes for filing a fradulent claim; g)
Preventing deputy commissioners
from speculating on future losses
of wage earning capacity; h) Ex-
pediting settlements allowing au-
tomatic approval of settlement
agreements within 30 days where
the employee is represented by
counsel; i) Prohibiting employees
in shipyards from suing their em-
ployers in court on some dual ca-
pacity theory; j) Excluding cleri-
cal, secretarial, data processing
and security personnel from the
Acts' coverage.
The two most important differ-
ences between the House and Sen-
ate bills involve jurisdiction and
occupational disease. The AWSC
has long fought for excluding small
shipyards from Longshore Act cov-
erage. The second tier shipyards
are not able to use their facilities
for non-maritime construction be-
cause the high rates of the Long-
shore Act make them non-compet-
itive with other steel fabricators.
Highway and bridge construction
have increased over 70% in the
last year, since the 59c fuel tax
came into effect. However small
shipyards have not been able to
participate in that business or in
many other non-maritime steel
fabrication jobs because of the Act.
In addition, many shipyards could
also become steel service centers if
they were not burdened by the
Act. Progress is being made prior
to conference to find a way to ex-
clude the shops and building areas
in shipyards from maritime cover-
age so that the facilities can be
more fully utilized. In addition,
progress is also being made on re-
solving the occupational disease
issues. With the difficult issues
out of the way, it is hoped that a
bill will be passed before Congress
adjourns in October 1984.
Longshore Reform will provide
shipyards with greater cost control
and more flexibility to use their
facilities.
Progress is also being made on
the development of a vertical
standard for the shipbuilding in-
dustry. Two years ago Phase I of
the project was completed when
OSHA consolidated the three ship-
yards standards—ship building,
shiprepairing, and shipbreaking—
into one single standard. The sec-
ond phase is nearly complete where
the appropriate general industry
standards will be combined with
the shipyard standards thereby
producing a vertical standard which
contains all the regulations that a
shipyard must comply with. Fi-
nally, the third and most difficult
phase is the revision of the verti-
cal standard so that all regula-
tions will be appropriate for the
shipyard environment. This will
be undertaken on a section-by-sec-
tion basis under a review schedule
established by OSHA.
In 1980, the AWSC was the re-
cipient of an OSHA New Direc-
tions grant. In 1981, the AWSC
published the new Employees
Safety Training Program, a slide
cassette presentation. The funds
raised through the sale of the
Safety Training Program have en-
abled the AWSC to become finan-
cially self-sufficient to produce ad-
ditional programs. The AWSC
Shipyard Safety Committee will
soon embark on the development
of a Supervisors Safety Training
Program. These programs are wise
investments that anticipate recov-
ery in the shipyard industry, and
that will be in place once the re-
covery occurs.
The American Waterways Oper-
ators, Inc., and the AWSC, repre-
sent a rare alliance for an indus-
try trade association because it
combines both the manufacturers
and the operators of the equip-
ment. This coalition reflects the
true nature of the maritime indus-
try which is an integrated system
composed of several distinct and
essential parts: vessel operators,
ports and terminals and shipyards.
Farrell Comments On
Rail-Barge Merger
Joseph Farrell, president of
the American Waterways Opera-
tors, Inc., reacted strongly to the
July 24, 1984 Interstate Com-
merce Commission's 4 to 0 vote to
allow CSX, the nation's second
largest railroad to acquire Ameri-
can Commercial Barge Lines, one
of the nation's largest barge lines.
"By permitting the dominant
rail carrier in the east to swallow
up the largest inland barge car-
rier—thereby disrupting and in
the long term severely damaging
the all-important intermodal bal-
ance which ensures competition,
efficiency, and lower costs—the
ICC is sanctioning an extremely
dangerous precedent," Mr. Farrell
said.
"There can be no more impor-
tant public interest issue than the
preservation of competition," Mr.
Farrell said. "From vigorous com-
petition flows lower rates, innova-
tive services, ample supply of
equipment, and all the many ben-
efits that result from management
striving for improved efficiency so
that it may prevail in the market-
place. The reduction in competi-
tion that this merger allows will
bring inefficiency and higher con-
sumer prices.
"The paramount issue here is
protection of American consumer,
who will be the ultimate loser in a
marketplace of rail monopoly and
reduced competition."
"This fight is not over," Mr. Far-
rell said. "We're confident we'll be
successful on appeal."
The American Waterways Oper-
ators, Inc. is the largest national
trade association representing over
250 companies involved in the
barge and towing industry, and
the shipyards that build and re-
pair the industry's vessels.
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