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

MEBA TELEX TIMES                      AUGUST 11, 2006

The Official Union Newsletter

NUMBER 32

In this issue...
Pension reform bill passes...Personnel changes...Oakland hall update...NCL CMES visit...Vessel repair statute improved... Fuhgeddaboutit! We go to the mattresses and make our bones as we rub out an issue mobbed with news. It's a hit! The newsletter 'boss of bosses' gets you connected with the maritime family business. Bada bing bada boom! "This thing of ours," the Telex Times - it's an offer you can't refuse!

PENSION REFORM BILL PASSED
H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, has been passed by the Senate and goes to the President's desk for signature. The bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to establish new minimum funding standards for single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Under the soon-to-be-law, multiemployer plans funded at less than 80 percent will have to implement a funding improvement plan and multiemployer plans funded at less than 65 percent will have to implement rehabilitation plans. The bill further sets schedules for the implementation of these improvement and rehabilitation plans. These measures are meant to forestall insolvency of multiemployer plans. HR 4 was passed by the Senate without amendment by a Yea-Nay vote of 93-5 on August 3rd.

MEBA PERSONNEL CHANGES
At this week's monthly membership meetings, MEBA's District Executive Committee informed the membership of personnel changes within the Union. The meeting packet communications are available in the Union halls. To summarize, Secretary-Treasurer, Cecil McIntyre will be retiring effective September 1, 2006. Baltimore Branch Agent Bill Van Loo will become the new Secretary-Treasurer and New York Patrolman Bill McHugh will become the Baltimore Branch Agent. In addition, Seattle Branch Agent Jon Anderson has resigned effective August 1, 2006 and New Orleans Patrolman Mike "Moose" Mallini is the new Seattle Branch Agent.

SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND HALL UPDATE
At this week's Union monthly membership union meetings, it was announced that after over two years of negotiations and administrative procedures, the sale of the San Francisco Union Hall was completed on July 25th. The membership packet communication is available in the Union halls.

Progress continues on the new Oakland Hall. While work goes on there, MEBA is remaining in the San Francisco Hall through an agreement with the new owners.

The Oakland Hall is progressing in anticipation for an opening date in September. Since occupancy permits are subject to the utility company and the city of Oakland we are hopeful to be able to move into the new hall during the month of September.

NCL VISITS CMES
Representatives from NCL America visited the Calhoon School on Wednesday, August 9th. Diana Gonzalez - Manager, Environmental, Public Health & SEMS Training and Ilene DiGiovanni - HR Recruiter - Marine Fleet Personnel, accompanied by representatives of MEBA Headquarters, received a complete tour from School Director Joyce Matthews, and Academic Manager Chuck Eser. Among the many classes, the NCL folks saw first-hand a "live line" exercise being done as part of our High Voltage Safety Course.

NCL PRIDE OF HAWAII 1st A/E Lindsay Smith visited with the Miami officials and explained the exercise and its relevance to the cruise ships. A special thanks to Ms. Smith and NCL C/E Paul Musotto who volunteered their time to observe the High Voltage course at the Calhoon School this week. NCL's Diana & Ilene especially enjoyed their 'cruise' through Prince William Sound via our Ship's Bridge Simulator. MEBA crews all the officer billets aboard the NCL America cruise ships operating under U.S. flag in Hawaii.

VESSEL REPAIR STATUTE TECHNICAL CORRECTION APPROVED IN CONGRESS
One of the final measures to be passed in the U.S. Senate before the month-long August recess was a comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with the private pension system. Included in the bill, HR 4, which was overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. Senate last evening and in the House a week before, was a section that included miscellaneous trade and technical corrections.

American Maritime Congress President Gloria Tosi was pleased to report "that the technical corrections section includes an exemption from the 50 percent ad valorem duty for any repairs or maintenance performed by the regular U.S. crew while the vessel is "on the high seas, in foreign waters, or in a foreign port, as long as it does not involve foreign shipyard repairs by foreign labor.""

This is language that the maritime coalition including MEBA/AMC has supported since the ink first dried on the previous technical correction enacted in 2004 that exempted vessel owners from the duty for repairs done by the American crew while on the high seas. However, due to an ill-conceived interpretation by the Bureau of Customs soon after enactment, MEBA/AMC went back to Capitol Hill requesting another technical correction.

By way of background, the House version of the technical corrections bill which passed earlier this year did not have this language in it owing to the strong opposition by the U.S. ship repair yards and their unions. In late May, Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, however, introduced the measure as a freestanding bill which helped tremendously in negotiating with the House side. Prior to the pension bill being considered in the House chamber, the shipyards and their unions lifted their opposition, and thus cleared the way for the Ways & Means Committee to include our measure in the pension bill. The bill is on its way to the White House for the President's signature.

MARAD TAKES STEPS FOR PRESERVATION OF NUCLEAR SHIP SAVANNAH
The Maritime Administration has awarded a contract for further decommissioning work on the nuclear ship SAVANNAH. Norfolk, Virginia's Colonna's Shipyard was the recipient of the $995,000 MarAd contract to perform topside work on the National Historic Landmark vessel. The SAVANNAH is currently moored at the James River Reserve Fleet site at Fort Eustis, VA.

The first nuclear powered merchant ship, the SAVANNAH was built in the late 1950s as part of President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative. Launched in 1962, the vessel was crewed with MEBA officers during its brief service. SAVANNAH was decommissioned in 1972 as a cost-cutting measure. Ironically this happened two years before the nation's energy crisis jacked up fuel oil costs making the operation of a nuclear ship seem more economical.

Among the work items to be done at Colonna's are exterior structural and lighting systems repairs and remediation of water-damaged interior spaces. These repairs are part of MarAd's preparation for the dismantlement and disposal of the remnants of the ship's power plant. The date and location of the removal of the ship's reactor has yet to be determined. The vessel's fuel was removed over 30 years ago before it served as a floating museum from 1981 to 1994 in Charleston, SC.

The SAVANNAH is scheduled to be moved from the James River site to Colonna's site on August 15. Completion of the SAVANNAH's DDR (Decommissioning, Decontamination and Radiological) work is a necessary step for the longterm preservation of the historic vessel.

MEBA-CREWED MSC TUG FIGHTS FIRE ABOARD ESTONIAN FREIGHTER
Military Sealift Command fleet ocean tug USNS APACHE, crewed with MEBA civilian mariners, sailed into Liberia's capital city of Monrovia August 9 to begin work repairing the Port of Monrovia's damaged commercial pier and surveying the city's harbor. Little did the ship's crew suspect that less than 24 hours after they arrived in port, they would be called on to assist in a slightly different mission - fighting a shipboard fire.

The engine room of TAHOMA REEFER, an Estonian commercial freighter also paying a call on Monrovia's port, burst into flames in the early hours of August 10. Later that morning, just as smoke from the burning vessel was spotted from APACHE's bridge, the U.S. Embassy in Liberia phoned the ship and asked the crew to respond. Using the ship's rigid hull inflatable (RHIB) boat, APACHE's Chief Mate Troy Bruemmer and CWO3 Pete Sharpe, officer-in-charge of the 12-member embarked Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two and three other crew members, rushed to the scene.

"When we arrived we witnessed the deck house of the ship engulfed in flames," said Sharpe. "All the crew members and the harbor pilot were on the bow - some without life jackets. We returned to our ship to get more life jackets and additional divers to assist." While the crew aboard APACHE's RHIB rescued the nine men aboard the freighter, the tug's civilian master, Capt. Charles Rodriguez, put his ship into action. "As the Chief Mate, Warrant Officer and divers removed Tahoma's crew from the starboard side, APACHE approached the ship's port side and commenced fighting the fire," said Capt. Rodriguez.

Using the tug's starboard fire stations, APACHE worked to put out the flames. More than four hours later, Tahoma's fire was under control. "Bravo zulu to the crew for their cool heads and fast hands during this rescue operation," said Capt. Nick Holman, Commander, Sealift Logistics Command Europe. "The response of APACHE's crew to this emergency situation represented merchant seamanship at its best." No crew members were injured during the operation.

ITF LAUNCHES WORLD "PORT OF CONVENIENCE" CAMPAIGN
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) meeting in South Africa has decided to launch a worldwide 'Ports of Convenience' campaign to ensure that decent standards apply across the world's ports. Delegates at the ITF Congress, representing the ITF's 624 affiliated unions - including the MEBA and over 200 unions representing dockers - backed a global push whose first focus will be on the world's largest global network terminal operators (GNTs).

The Ports of convenience campaign name deliberately links to the ITF's long standing fight against flags of convenience, which have long been associated with a general lowering of standards for commercial gain. The aim of the campaign is to ensure that acceptable standards apply in ports and terminals around the world. The terms 'port of convenience' and 'terminal of convenience' refer respectively to ports or terminals that are sub-standard, i.e. those that do not meet the standards of unions affiliated to the ITF Dockers' Section.

Frank Leys, Secretary of the ITF's Dockers' Section, explained "Our first calls will be on the 'big four' GNTs, because we believe they are standard setters. They have it in their power to make a huge difference to dockers' work across the world."

"This is an exercise in dialogue and co-operation to ensure across the board good conditions. Working with the GNTs we aim to develop global framework agreements which national unions will know set certain basic standards they can rely on when negotiating locally."

Delegates of the Dockers' Section Conference, meeting at the ITF Congress, authorized the ITF to begin the construction of these networks, produce educational and campaigning materials, and to approach the first of the GNTs.

RANDALL HOWARD ELECTED ITF PRESIDENT
South African Transport & Allied Workers' Union (SATAWU) General Secretary Randall Howard has been elected President of the ITF.

In his speech, Howard, who replaces outgoing president Umraomal Purohit, stated, "SATAWU recognizes that our international work has strategic importance for our movement. There is recognition that the most effective way to challenge global capital is through global organizing and trade union work."

The ITF is a global organization representing around four and a half million transport workers worldwide. ITF is able to carry the interests of its 624 affiliate unions into the global arena.

NO LET-UP IN OIL POLLUTION PROSECUTIONS
A grand jury in Newark, N.J. has returned a three-count indictment against two engineers aboard a Korean vessel who allegedly used hoses to bypass pollution prevention equipment.

The Chief Engineer and the 2nd A/E of the bulk carrier vessel M/V SUN NEW were charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in connection with the use of two bypass hoses used to discharge sludge and oil contaminated bilge waste overboard into the ocean.

According to the indictment, the defendants used two hoses on a trip from Korea to Camden, N.J. between November 20, 2005, and December 31, 2005, to circumvent required pollution prevention equipment and dump sludge and oily bilge waste into the ocean. This bypass equipment was discovered by the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel in Camden, N.J. on January 3, 2006. They are also charged with failing to record these discharges in the Oil Record Book and obstructing the Coast Guard inspection by making false statements designed to prevent the Coast Guard from finding out about these discharges.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of 5 years in prison on the conspiracy charge, 5 years in prison on the obstruction charge, and 5 years in prison on the violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

COAST GUARD NATIONAL MARITIME CENTER OPENS FIRST OFFICE IN WEST VIRGINIA
The Coast Guard National Maritime Center has opened its first office in Martinsburg, W.V., a milestone in its mariner licensing and documentation program restructuring and centralization project. The NMC office in West Virginia will initially evaluate applications and issue credentials for mariners applying through New Orleans. The transfer of remaining divisions and functions from Arlington, Va. to the Martinsburg area will continue over the next year.

When a permanent facility is completed during the summer of 2007, all evaluation and issuing functions will take place in Martinsburg as part of a project to improve customer service to mariners. The mission of the Coast Guard's Regional Examination Centers will also change to focus on providing direct service to mariners, including fingerprinting, establishing identities, administering testing, and providing course oversight.

NEXT REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Tuesday, September 5 - Baltimore, Boston, Houston, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Seattle;
Wednesday, September 6 - Calhoon School, Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, September 7 - Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, September 8 - Honolulu.
 

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