As M.E.B.A. members in good standing should know, a referendum has been mailed to their homes in regards to how members are able to ship out. A "yes" vote would amend M.E.B.A. shipping rules to create a national shipping card. This would allow members to avoid having to transfer their shipping cards in or out of the M.E.B.A. Union halls when travelling between halls. A "no" vote would keep the current method of transferring in and out of M.E.B.A. Union halls when travelling between halls.

The referendum vote is being conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Ballots were mailed to members in good standing in the second week of December. The 90-day referendum began on December 15, 2009 and will conclude on March 15, 2010.

If you did not receive a referendum ballot or if yours was lost or destroyed you need to contact the American Arbitration Association (AAA) immediately and request a ballot in writing from: Kenneth Egger, American Arbitration Association, 230 South Broad Street, Floor 12, Philadelphia, PA 19102-4199. Phone No.: (215) 731-2281; Fax No.: (215) 985-0977, E-mail: eggerk@adr.org.

The Calhoon M.E.B.A. Engineering School has added an Advanced Shiphandling class to the 2010 course schedule. This class will run February 15 - 26, 2010. If you are interested in taking this class please complete an application form and submit to the school's registration department either by mail or via fax at (410) 822-7220.

Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes, long the backbone of the navigation system, fell to their lowest level in 71 years in 2009. Iron ore cargos totaled only 31,792,629 net tons, the lowest level recorded since 1938 when the trade finished the year at 21,574,573 tons. The 2009 total also almost perfectly replicates the trade’s 1935 performance: 31,765,852 tons. The lowest total for the Lakes iron ore trade on record is 3,996,441 tons in 1932. (The peak was 107,345,783 tons in 1953.) The state of the North American steel industry determines the pace of the iron ore trade. It takes between 1.3 and 1.5 tons of iron ore to make a ton of steel. The steel industry began 2009 operating at about 35 percent of capacity. Although a number of blast furnaces were restarted as the year progressed, the industry still ended 2009 with about 30 percent of its capacity idle.

The past few months have been dominated by discussions on health care reform. Congressional efforts to pass sweeping health care reform have been met with strong opposition and leaders in both chambers as well as the Administration are determined to continue until they pass a bill. Along with budgetary, tax and other important issues, maritime issues have been moved to the back burner until health care legislation is resolved one way or another. The M.E.B.A. has taken advantage of this opportunity to connect with friends of the maritime industry and gather support for important issues such as Short Sea Shipping, Title XI loan guarantees, and protection from piracy.

The health care legislation passed by the House contained very few pieces that would affect mariners and our friends in labor. For that reason, the M.E.B.A. as well as the AFL-CIO remained on the sidelines and hoped for the swift movement of legislation so that other important issues would receive proper attention. Unfortunately, the Senate bill that passed on December 24th contains provisions that concern the M.E.B.A. as well as the AFL-CIO. The Senate legislation includes a tax on so-called "cadillac plans" which would likely include those in the M.E.B.A. as well as other unions. The tax would be assessed on insurance premiums above $23,000 for families and above $8,500 for individuals. Legislators clearly did not consider that many of these medical plans were realized due to deferred wages in bargaining agreements. Because of this, the M.E.B.A. and other seafaring unions are looking into various alternatives.

Although bills have been passed by both House and Senate, it is uncertain what the final legislation will look like. In order to become law, both chambers must come together, agree on a final bill, then vote on it again before it goes before the President for his signature. During this conference, the M.E.B.A. hopes to convince members of Congress that, at the very least, those who work at sea deserve an exemption. Not only do mariners sail through areas affected by piracy, but are often called to sail into war zones. Though the final bill is more likely to resemble that of the Senate, the M.E.B.A. will work closely with the AFL-CIO and friends in Congress to ensure that any measure passed will be fair to all of our brothers and sisters in labor.

On Wednesday, you can call your representative, toll-free at 1-877-323-5246. AFL-CIO asks you to tell our representatives that the health care reform bill passed by the House is much better for working families than the version passed by the Senate. We want them to stick to their guns and vote for health care reform that DOES NOT tax our health care benefits, requires employers to pay their fair share and controls health care costs. The AFL-CIO believes that the best way to do this is by creating a public health care insurance plan option.

As mentioned in a recent edition, the U.S. Coast Guard’s broadcast of the Loran-C signal is set for termination. Federal broadcast of the Loran-C signal will cease at 2000 Zulu time on February 8, 2010 with some exceptions, including the following five sites that are bound by bi-lateral agreements with either Canada (Caribou, ME; George, WA; Nantucket, MA; Shoal Cove, AK) or the Russian Federation (Attu, AK). Mariners or other users of Loran-C are encouraged to shift to GPS navigation and plotting systems as soon as possible and not later than the termination date.

Questions may be addressed to Bill Cairns of the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters e-Navigation Division at (202) 372-1557 or William.R.Cairns@uscg.mil. 

More than 100 union members, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and UNITEHERE! President John Wilhelm were arrested at a sit-in demanding justice and a fair contract for San Francisco hotel workers this week. The workers have been without a contract since August.

The sit-in in front of the Hilton San Francisco followed a march by nearly 1,000 members of UNITEHERE! Local 2, other union members and community and political supporters. says Ingrid Carp, a cook for 29 years at the Hilton. "We’re determined as ever to win a good contract. It’s wrong for corporations to position themselves to make billions with the coming economic recovery, and expect us to go backward."

The action is part of a campaign to win fair contracts at several national hotel chains, including Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood. The profitable chains are using the recession as an excuse to demand health care benefit cuts in contract talks with more than 16,000 workers at dozens of hotels in San Francisco, Chicago and other cities.

Monday, Feb. 8 – Boston; Jacksonville; Seattle;
Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Baltimore/Calhoon School@CMES, Houston, San Francisco (Oakland);
Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Charleston, New Orleans;
Thursday, Feb. 11 – L.A. (Wilmington), New York (New Jersey), Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, Feb. 12 – Honolulu.