In this issue...
MOLA passed goes into operation...Credentials committee to be elected...House bill on short sea shipping...In a Hoover-like edition, we call you onto the carpet, plug in and get our maritime motor running. With the latest dirt "in the bag," we clean house and vacuum up all the industry items gathering dust. The Turbo-Flo Telex Times will really suck you in!

MM&P APPROVES MOLA PACT
M.E.B.A. President Ron Davis and MM&P President Capt. Tim Brown are pleased to announce that the Merchant Officers' Labor Alliance (MOLA), a cooperation pact between the two organizations, is now in effect. On Tuesday, an MM&P Tallying Committee announced that their members had approved MOLA by a huge margin after a 90-day referendum. An M.E.B.A. rank and file committee recorded our Union's approval of the agreement in a tally that occurred last week. The assent of both unions puts the MOLA into effect. The agreement, which was crafted with input from members of both unions, can be viewed on M.E.B.A.'s homepage on the "Hot site" or go there directly by following this link: www.meba.us/MOLA_Agreement_Text.pdf.

MEMBERS WILL ELECT CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE AT JULY MEETINGS
A rank and file Credentials Committee, made up of five members in good standing will be elected at the regular July membership meetings. The Committee will go into session at M.E.B.A. Headquarters on Tuesday, July 10 at 9 a.m. and spend up to two days authenticating the qualifications of nominees for candidacy in the 2007 District No. 1-PCD M.E.B.A. election. According to the M.E.B.A. By-Laws, members of the Credentials Committee, including alternates, will be elected at five Union halls during the meetings. No officer or candidate for office or job is eligible for this committee. One member each will be elected at the meetings in New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. Alternates will be elected at the meetings in Baltimore and Houston.

Travel to D.C. will be arranged by Headquarters. The elected member should call Ann Holmes at Headquarters at (202) 638-5355 ext. 1658 immediately to discuss arrangements. Following completion of their work, the committee's report and the materials of the candidates will appear in a special election edition of the Marine Officer that will be mailed out to members, applicants and retirees in August. Union halls will also have a copy of the report and it will be published in the July 13 edition of the Telex Times.

HOUSE BILL ADVANCES SHORT SEA SHIPPING INITIATIVE
A maritime provision within a bill approved this week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would help establish a short sea shipping system on the Great Lakes. The Transportation Energy Security and Climate Change Mitigation Act of 2007 (H.R. 2701) would reduce global warming through greater transportation efficiencies and conservation initiatives. Importantly, the major freight goods movement components of the bill would integrate the marine highway into our nation's overall intermodal transportation system.

Title IV of the bill would establish a new program to promote short sea shipping to move cargo on the Great Lakes and along our sea coasts. The bill would also help authorize loan guarantees of up to $2 billion to help marine operators and shippers construct a new class of cargo vessels suitable for short sea shipping.

Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), with strong backing from MarAd and the maritime unions, inserted the short sea shipping provisions into the bill. M.E.B.A., along with a coalition of maritime organizations, expressed support for the new language in the bill that would help make short sea shipping in this country more tangible. The unions pointed out that this initiative is something that should be put together with U.S. ships and mariners and reiterated their appreciation that Rep. Oberstar placed provisions in the bill that would help encourage the viability of such a presence.

USNS COMFORT SHIPS OUT ON HUMANITARIAN MISSION
The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS COMFORT, crewed with M.E.B.A. officers in the engine room, left from Norfolk on June 15 on a four-month humanitarian mission to Latin America and the Caribbean. This is COMFORT's first deployment since returning from the U.S. Gulf Coast in October 2005 where the ship spent more than a month providing medical assistance in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"America is the most generous nation in the world, and this mission is our way of showing that," said Capt. Ed Nanartowich, the ship's civil service master. "This is a great opportunity for the Navy and our mariners to show the compassionate side of our workforce."

The COMFORT will visit Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. At each stop, U.S. military doctors and nurses from the ship's medical treatment facility will work with a variety of embarked governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as medical professionals from host nations to treat about 1,000 patients per day, providing medical care including immunizations, general and specialty surgeries, dental care and vision services.

COMFORT's mission, part of U.S. Southern Command's Partnership for the Americas, is modeled in part on the humanitarian assistance deployment that COMFORT's sister ship, USNS MERCY, conducted last year to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. On that mission, MERCY's medical team treated more than 60,000 patients. The MERCY is also crewed with M.E.B.A. officers. "The number one role of civilian mariners on this mission is the navigation and operation of the ship - making sure that we get from point A to point B safely and running the engineering plant that supplies the hospital with water and electricity," said Nanartowich. "It is a privilege and an honor for Military Sealift Command to be part of such an important deployment," he continued. "The ship's crew and I are looking forward to being part of a productive and highly rewarding mission."

OVERSEAS LONG BEACH NAMING CEREMONY
Work on the MT-46 Veteran Class product tanker OVERSEAS LONG BEACH in Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is drawing to a close, with the vessel soon to be delivered to Overseas Shipholding Group. This is the second of up to 16 product tankers being built by Aker that will be chartered to OSG and crewed up with M.E.B.A. officers. The ships will be owned by Aker subsidiary American Shipping Corporation.

The LONG BEACH just returned from successful sea trials. The vessel departed the yard on the morning of Tuesday, June 5th and headed down the Delaware River. Once the system and performance tests began, the tanker performed admirably, accomplishing a "clean sweep" of the required assessments, fully demonstrating all systems and achieving all specified performance measures. The ship returned to the yard on schedule in the early hours of Saturday, June 9th. One week later on Saturday, June 16th, a ceremony was held at the yard and attended by hundreds of invited guests and Aker employees and their families. The yard welcomed the vessel's sponsor, Governor Ruth Ann Minner of Delaware, who blessed the vessel and those that will sail upon her, while formally bestowing the name OVERSEAS LONG BEACH. Soon after delivery, the ship will enter service to BP Shipping, under that company's agreement with OSG.

Aker is also making good progress on several other vessels in the series. The OVERSEAS SAN FRANCISCO is coming together and will be delivered later this year. The fourth ship in the series, the OVERSEAS NEW YORK, recently had its keel-laying. And the yard also began work on the fifth tanker in the series, the OVERSEAS TEXAS CITY, which will be completed by early next year.

COAST GUARD SEEKING MARINER FEEDBACK
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that its Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee has established a mechanism to provide ongoing feedback on the mariner licensing and documentation program and the relocation of the National Maritime Center.

"The committee is reaching out to organizations such as trade associations, labor unions, and educational institutions to obtain their feedback, as well as mariner feedback, on how implementation of the plan is affecting their constituents," said Andrew McGovern, committee chairman. "This process includes an early warning email contact system so problems warranting immediate action can be brought to the Coast Guard's attention."

Those wishing to provide feedback should email the committee at merpacfeedback@gmail.com.

The Coast Guard began restructuring its mariner licensing and documentation program in March 2005 to improve service to mariners. The project will relocate the National Maritime Center to Martinsburg, West Virginia, change mission focus for the 17 regional examination centers and implement technological improvements such as electronic imaging of mariner records, electronic administration and grading of exams, and on-line payment of user fees. When the plan is complete the processing of all applications for credentials will be centralized and managed by the reorganized National Maritime Center staff, and the responsibilities of the regional examination centers will be limited to fingerprinting mariners, establishing mariner identities, providing application assistance, administering testing, and providing course oversight.

WE NEED IDEAS FOR T-SHIRTS
We're looking to produce new M.E.B.A. T-shirts this summer and are interested in fresh ideas to make these shirts really stand out. Our previous shirt had a small M.E.B.A. logo at the left chest level and the "Don't Tread on MEBA" flag on the back. The shirt prior to that had a logo in front with the words "On Watch in Peace & War since 1875" in back. We're ready for something new. If you have a snappy phrase fit for an M.E.B.A. shirt or a design in mind - let us know. Whoever comes up with the winning design or T-shirt text will receive at least five of the shirts in sizes of their choice. You can e-mail Marco (editor@d1meba.org)  with your suggestions.

NEXT REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Monday July 2 - Boston, Seattle;
Tuesday, July 3 - Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville, Portland; San Francisco;
Thursday, July 5 - Charleston, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, July 6 - Honolulu, L.A.