M.E.B.A. Headquarters was informed by American Ship Management/Patriot Contract Services, LLC this week that the company was the successful bidder for two small business set-aside contracts procured though the Military Sealift Command.

Further details will be forthcoming next week, but circle the date now and be one of the first ones to register for the event when the forms are made available. Questions and comments can be forwarded to Mike Fanning at caa2010@mebaschool.org.

The AFL-CIO called for the U.S. and the entire international community, including the global union movement, to "do our utmost to aid our Haitian sisters and brothers in their moment of extraordinary need."

You can help Haitian workers in distress by donating to the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center's Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers' Campaign. Visit their website at www.solidaritycenter.org where you can make an online donation. And learn how the center is working to help Haitians.

Organized labor has reached an agreement with President Obama and key White House officials on a more digestible heath care plan that won’t prove to be as burdensome on unions as the original proposal. At issue was the tax on high-cost insurance policies called for in the Senate version of the bill. The tax would be assessed on insurance premiums above $23,000 for families and above $8,500 for individuals. M.E.B.A. members would be negatively affected by such a provision. Though the House version did not contain such language, it was understood the Senate provision was favored by the White House and would likely survive when a House-Senate Conference Committee met to piece together a final bill.

However, intense negotiations with labor this week seem to have positively altered the landscape of the bill. The deal would exempt union members from the surtax for five years after the legislation would be due to come into effect in 2013. That would allow unions until 2018 to restructure their plans to better cope with the new law if the new version with the modified provision is approved. The compromise involves the following:

• Raising the threshold at which family plans are taxed from $23,000 to $24,000 in 2013 for all working families, with annual increases of Consumer Price Index plus one. The threshold for single plans will be $8,900. (Taft Hartley plans will be considered at the family rate.)

• Raising the threshold on plans further if health care costs grow faster than expected from 2010-2013.

• Exempting dental and vision costs beginning in 2015, which could raise the threshold as much as $2,000.

• Raising the threshold for plans that have significant numbers of women and/or older workers.

• Preserving the original Senate proposal to raise the threshold for plans with workers in high-risk professions, affecting more than 9 million workers.

• Preserving the original Senate proposal that would raise the threshold for plans with retirees age 55 and up.

• Providing transitional relief for employers and workers to adjust to the tax.

• Temporarily raising the threshold for high-cost states, affecting more than 38 million workers.

• Providing a five-year transition window for state and local employee plans and plans negotiated through collective bargaining agreements before they are subject to the tax, as typically is done when federal laws affecting workers are enacted so that agreements will not have to be renegotiated.

• The ability for bargaining plans to go into the exchange in 2017.

Tuesday’s special election to elect a successor to the late-Sen. Edward Kennedy in Massachusetts may have huge ramifications for the fate of health care reform. Republican Scott Brown is now leading in the polls and should he defeat Democrat Martha Coakley, Democrats would lose their 60-seat majority and possibly their ability to approve a health care reform compromise.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, "Many of these dilapidated ships pose a dangerous and unacceptable risk to the surrounding marine environment. We have already successfully towed the first two ships out of the Bay to be recycled, and with these next contracts in place, will continue moving swiftly forward to clean and recycle another three obsolete vessels."

The ships will be towed first to BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair, where they will be cleaned of marine growth and loose exterior paint. They will then be towed to Brownsville, Texas to be dismantled by Esco Marine under the terms of three separate fee-for-service contracts for a total of $3,407,726.

A superseding indictment was issued against Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse alleging he took part in two other acts of piracy on other vessels including one ship that is still being held hostage. According to the complaint and indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:

"In March 2009, Muse, and others armed with firearms, boarded a ship (Ship-1) as it was navigating in the Indian Ocean. After boarding Ship-1, Muse and others threatened the captain of Ship-1 with a firearm; seized control of Ship-1; and held the captain and the crew of Ship-1 hostage onboard Ship-1. Furthermore, while on board Ship-1, Muse pointed a gun at one of the Ship-1 hostages and threatened to kill him. Muse also showed one of the hostages what appeared to be an improvised explosive device (IED). Muse placed the IED in the vicinity of the hostage, and indicated that if the authorities came the IED would explode and the hostage would be killed.

Then, in April 2009, Muse and others left Ship-1 on a small boat (the skiff). When the Skiff returned to Ship-1, Ship-1 and the skiff were made to rendezvous with another ship (Ship-2) that was then navigating in the Indian Ocean. After Ship-1 and the skiff arrived in the vicinity of Ship-2, the captain of Ship-1 was ordered to pull Ship-1 up to Ship-2. Ship-1 was then attached to Ship-2. Muse and others held hostage, on board Ship-2, both the captain and the crew of Ship-1 and the captain and the crew of Ship-2. At the present time, the captain and the crew of Ship-2 continue to be held hostage on board Ship-2.

M.E.B.A. members in good standing should have received a referendum mailed to their homes. A "yes" vote would amend M.E.B.A. shipping rules to create a true 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.

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.