MARINE ENGINEERS' BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION (AFL-CIO)
         "On Watch in Peace and War Since 1875"

MEBA TELEX TIMES       APRIL 03, 2009

The Official Union Newsletter

NUMBER 14

In this issue...
Plan to cut ship emissions...TWIC news...CMES at trade shows...FRC Committee elections...Achtung! In a Teutonic, zeppelin-sized issue from the Hinterlands, we put you on the information super autobahn with M.E.B.A. und maritime news. Avoid the dreck in non-germane weiner weeklies that go down like the Hindenburg. Those ersatz, lederhosen-wearing schweinhunds are verboten! Have a glass of schnapps and some strudel, put on Beethoven and get the Uber-newsletter that grabs you like a Rottweiler. The wunderkind Telex Times is a literary blitzkrieg!

U.S. PROPOSAL TO SLASH SHIP EMISSIONS ON COASTLINES
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued a new proposal to cut pollutants emanating from vessels around the nation's coastlines by requiring a reduction in allowable ship emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter (PM).

The plan, which must go through the International Maritime Organization, would create an emissions control area (ECA) around the nation's coastline. The proposed area of the ECA includes waters adjacent to the Pacific coast, the Atlantic/Gulf coast and the eight main Hawaiian Islands. The proposed ECA would extend 200 nautical miles from the coastal baseline, except that it would not extend into marine areas subject to the sovereignty, sovereign rights, or jurisdiction of any state other than the United States or Canada The IMO will begin reviewing the proposal in July.

Under this program, larger sized ships such as oil tankers and cargo ships that operate in ECAs will face stricter emissions standards designed to reduce the threat they pose to human health and the environment. These standards will cut SOx in fuel by 98 percent, PM emissions by 85 percent, and NOx emissions by 80 percent from the current global requirements. To achieve these reductions, ships must use fuel with no more than 1,000 parts per million sulfur beginning in 2015, and new ships must used advanced emission control technologies beginning in 2016.

EPA claims that the creation of an ECA would save up to 8,300 American and Canadian lives every year by 2020. The agency led the U.S. effort to develop the proposal in coordination with federal partners such as the Coast Guard, State Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Canada joined the U.S. as a co-proposer on the ECA proposal, advancing a strategy for a coordinated geographic emissions control program.

The proposal, submitted to the IMO on Friday, March 27, is one part of a comprehensive EPA program to address harmful emissions from ocean going vessels under the National Clean Diesel Campaign and the Clean Ports Program. Other elements include adoption of a Clean Air Act rulemaking process, which EPA plans to finalize this year. More information on the proposal can be found at www.epa.gov/otaq/oceanvessels.htm.

MAERSK UPGRADING NINE MSP SHIPS
Maersk Line, Limited is in the process of replacing nine of its militarily-useful, U.S.-flag containerships in the Maritime Security Program with nine newer and more efficient ships. Maersk's 2008 request for the change was approved and coordinated with the Department of Defense's U.S. Transportation Command after the Maritime Administration found that the proposed replacement vessels met or exceeded the eligibility requirements of the Maritime Security Program.

The nine ships leaving the MSP are SEALAND PRIDE, SEALAND MOTIVATOR, SEALAND COMMITMENT, SEALAND FLORIDA, SEALAND ATLANTIC, SEALAND ACHIEVER, SEALAND PERFORMANCE, SEALAND QUALITY and the MAERSK ARIZONA. Maersk expects to reflag all of those to foreign registry in the next few months.

The ships replacing them area as follows: the SEALAND CHAMPION, MAERSK UTAH, SEALAND EAGLE, SEALAND MERCURY, MAERSK WISCONSIN, MAERSK WYOMING, SEALAND RACER, MAERSK KENTUCKY and the MAERSK IDAHO. Those ships will be re-flagged into the U.S. fleet.

NEWS FROM THE SCHOOL
The Calhoon M.E.B.A. Engineering School attended the recent Sea-Trade and Connecticut Maritime Association Shows. Visitors to the CMES booth included shipping companies, inspectors, surveyors, and maintenance/repair organizations. Many expressed interest in gaining access to the School's array of U.S. Coast Guard-approved courses. Of particular appeal to the cruise industry and several maritime academies were the School's two online courses: Crowd Management and Crisis Management & Human Behavior. The E-Learning Management System, which hosts the online courses, is approved by the USCG for supporting STCW knowledge-based courses. CMES intends to expand its online course offerings to facilitate supplementary access by the members to training required by STCW regulations, USCG, and/or the contracted companies.

FRC COMMITTEE ELECTIONS NEXT WEEK
The annual rank and file Financial Review Committee will be elected at the regular membership meetings next week. The six-person committee will assemble at M.E.B.A. Headquarters on April 21 to review Union finances from the 2008 calendar year. Committee members will be elected at meetings in Baltimore, Houston, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

The elected Union members will travel to M.E.B.A. Headquarters in Washington D.C. on Monday, April 20, 2009. The actual meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 in the Conference Room at M.E.B.A. Headquarters. It is anticipated that the business of the FRC will be completed by Thursday, April 23 with travel home scheduled for Thursday, April 27. Newly elected FRC members should contact Ann Holmes at M.E.B.A. Headquarters immediately after the Union meeting in order to nail down travel arrangements (202-638-5355).

TWIC HELP DESK NUMBER FOR THOSE OUTSIDE U.S.
The Transportation Security Administration is now offering an international TWIC Help Desk telephone number for individuals outside the United States that need information on the TWIC program. You may reach the TWIC Help Desk from abroad at (001) 817-359-7761.

If you would like to email the TWIC Help Desk regarding any questions about the TWIC program or your TWIC card status, after checking online, you can now email the Help Desk directly at TWIC.Helpdesk@gcrm.com.  Please include your full name that was used at enrollment, date of birth, and application ID to allow for timely processing of your request.

TRANSPORTATION LABOR APPLAUDS EFFORTS TO MAKE TWIC ENROLLMENT MORE EFFICIENT
Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement in reaction to the announced changes to the TWIC program to make it more efficient for workers:

"No one wants ports and ships to be more secure than the people who work in them every day. But we've always said that the TWIC program must improve security -- not just prevent good people from being able to go to work. As the Transportation Worker Identification Credential deadline for nationwide compliance nears, every effort must be made to get workers through the process quickly and keep our ports operating efficiently.

"Workers have applied weeks and months ago and still haven't received their TWIC cards. The Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard are doing the right thing by adding more resources to increase the number and staffing of enrollment facilities, increase staffing for processing appeals and waivers, and providing a way for workers to access their job sites and other secure areas while awaiting their TWIC cards.

"House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson has been a champion of common sense at every opportunity with regard to the TWIC program. We commend Chairman Thompson and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Chairwoman of the Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee, for their commitment to protecting security and jobs. Workers across the country will benefit from their insistence that increased worker demand is accommodated."

MABUS IN LINE AS NEXT NAVY SECRETARY
Former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus will be nominated as the next Secretary of the Navy, the Obama administration announced. Mabus, 60, has worked in a variety of government and private venues. He was the youngest person ever elected governor of Mississippi, a job he held from 1988 to 1992, and served as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer aboard the missile cruiser Little Rock. A Harvard Law School graduate, Mabus was the chairman and chief executive officer of Fomax International from 2006 to 2007 and guided that company out of bankruptcy.

Mabus has been widely reported since January as a top contender for the Navy secretary job, although his public record on current Navy issues is minimal. Among the many topics he will have to deal with if he's confirmed as the 75th Navy secretary will be decisions involving Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, one of Mississippi's largest employers. Mabus would succeed former secretary Donald Winter, who left office March 13.

PIRACY ATTACKS ROSE IN MARCH
March 2009 saw a spike in pirate activity off the East Coast of Somalia, said the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center. By the end of the month, 15 such attacks on vessels had been reported for March 2009. In January and February this year there were, respectively, zero and two attempted attacks off the east coast of Somalia. This increase is contrary to the recent trend, which had seen pirates focusing on the Gulf of Aden.

DARCY TAPPED TO HEAD CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Jo-Ellen Darcy will be nominated as the next Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) at the Department of Defense. In that capacity she would head up the Army Corps of Engineers. Ms. Darcy is currently Senior Environmental Advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, working to develop energy, environmental and conservation initiatives using the tax code. Previously, she served as Senior Policy Advisor, Deputy Staff Director and Professional Staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works. Darcy has held a number of other positions, including Executive Director at the Great Lakes and Water Resources Planning Commission in Michigan, Assistant to the Director of Personnel for Gubernatorial Appointments for the Office of the Michigan Governor and Legislative and Policy Analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. Darcy holds a Master of Science in Resource Development from Michigan State University.

30,000 JOBS A DAY LOST IN MARCH
In March, the number of jobless workers around the country worsened by 663,000, to 13.2 million, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent. That's about 30,000 jobs lost for each work day in March. In its monthly jobs report, the Labor Department sums up the latest data, which paint a dire picture of the labor market.

Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last five months. If those who are underemployed or who want a job but have given up looking are counted, the U.S. unemployment rate stands at 15.6 percent-nearly 25 million Americans.

Worse, those who are jobless can't find new employment. In March 2009, 24.2 percent of the jobless were out of work for more than six months, surpassing the previous recession peak of 19.8 percent in November 1982. There are nearly four jobless workers for every job opening, according to the groups, and long-term joblessness is likely to grow further in the months ahead. The long-term unemployed may approach or exceed 30 percent of all jobless workers by 2010.

Job loss in March included a loss of 161,000 manufacturing jobs and 126,000 in the construction industry, where jobs have fallen by 1.3 million since peaking in January 2007. Nearly half of that decline occurred over the past five months. Jobs in retail fell by 48,000. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "It is unacceptable that America's workers are suffering through the worst job loss in a generation while many politicians are still sitting back and standing in the way of reform. Fixing our unemployment problem is as important to ending the recession as addressing the banking system."

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Monday, April 6 - Boston, Jacksonville, Seattle;
Tuesday, April 7 - Baltimore, Houston, San Francisco;
Wednesday, April 8 - Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, April 9 - Honolulu; L.A., New York, Norfolk, Tampa

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