Interim ETO arrangements

[ETwhat?]

So the MCA has its interim plans for how current people sailing as ETO's will be able to stay in the job, its not too bad for people who did the EOOW route but for anyone sailing effectively without any CoC it seems like a reasonably mammoth task. Details are on the link:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/interim_eto_transfer_1.7.pdf

What was interesting is a recent email from Nautilus in that while they are providing grants for people who wish to get the new ticket they also point out that you only need to hold an ETO CoC if your signing on as an ETO, but that it is possible for you to still sign on and do the same job without the CoC as long as the company changes the name ie Ships technical officer, ships electrician and that will hold until the time when a ships manning requirement actually specifies that it must carry an ETO.

so what do people think, should someone who has been doing the job for years have to sit exams and orals just to continue or should a better form of 'grandfather' rights been applied?

[condeh]

All I can speak of is my experience within my last company. The vast majority of our ETO's were grandfather age themselves, no official ticket, but damn, they knew their stuff and were well respected as leccy's.
Compare that to the guys of my generation, usually EOOW who agreed to go ETO. Nice guys, but not in anyway as qualified or capable as the older chaps, as we all know, experience counts for a great deal more than education. The kicker was these guys were paid more than the old boys as they could claim a 'ticket bonus', which was bonkers. Not knocking them, they are as good as, and in some cases better than, the education they were given.

So I think it is crazy that these guys will have to complete record books, take SQA's and an Oral exam. To a man, the old boys in my last outfit have simply decided it is far easier to retire, their all on decent pensions, and it just isn't worth the bother. Frankly, I think the MCA and those who decided should be ashamed, they show no respect for these guys, they are essentially being asked to complete an ETO cadetship, mental.

[ETwhat?]

yeah that was much the feeling my lot were going for, fair enough someone who doesn't have the years of experience having to go through all the hoops but someone with 30 years experience is a different matter. That said old hands sailing on the same ships all the time will always be better than the newbies