MEBA Edition

MARINE ENGINEERS' BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION (AFL-CIO)
          "On Watch in Peace and War Since 1875"
MEBA TELEX TIMES              AUGUST 31, 2007

The Official Union Newsletter
NUMBER 35

In this issue...
LNG contract signed…Work for active and retired members on T-AGS ships…Election issue sent to halls…Ballots mail out tomorrow…T.G.I.F.! We raise your industry I.Q. and I.D. an A-O.K. A.P.B. for V.I.P.s. You don’t have to be a PH.D or have E.S.P. to O.D. on our F.Y.I. from A.M. to P.M. K.O. those S.O.B. newsletters that go M.I.A on the latest Q&A. You can use them for T.P.! C.Y.A. with the latest maritime P.R. -- the B.M.O.C., A.K.A. the Telex Times -- get it A.S.A.P!

HALLS, OFFICES CLOSED MONDAY
M.E.B.A. Union halls and offices will be closed on Monday in observance of Labor Day. The regular membership meeting week will begin on Tuesday. The Boston and Seattle meetings, which usually occur on a Monday, will take place on Tuesday (Sept. 4) instead.

LNG CONTRACT SIGNED
M.E.B.A.’s President is pleased to announce that he has inked a collective bargaining agreement today with ARMADA Companies to provide licensed deck and engine shipboard officers to EXMAR, NV liquefied natural gas vessels. As reported earlier this summer, M.E.B.A. reached an agreement with ARMADA Companies to supply Person-in-Charge (PIC) Officers for LNG terminals.

In the agreement reached today, M.E.B.A. is the sole and exclusive representative for all shipboard U.S. Coast Guard licensed deck and engine officers to EXMAR’s vessels. M.E.B.A. intends to provide more details next week. The full-bodied collective bargaining agreement will also be available in the halls next week.

ACTIVE & RETIRED DECKIES CAN FIND WORK ON T-AGS SHIPS
In the spirit of cooperation with the MM&P, M.E.B.A. is attempting to find Chief Mate Deck Officers for several of the Military Sealift Command Oceanographic Survey vessels. Active and retired M.E.B.A. deck officers with a current license have opportunities for work aboard these T-AGS ships managed by Horizon Lines. Those interested in the position should contact our Representative in Norfolk at (757) 440-1820.

PORT ENGINEER NEEDED FOR NEW POSITION
Horizon Lines is seeking an experienced Port Engineer for the T-AGS program. The position requires a combination of home-based work with frequent travel involved. Government procurement policy experience is preferred, along with the ability to be vetted with a secret clearance. For more information, please call the Norfolk Representative at (757) 440-1820.

ELECTION ISSUE SENT TO HALLS
The Special Election Edition of the Marine Officer was mailed out to members, applicants and retirees this week.

A bulk mailing of the issue was also sent to the respective Union halls. As of Friday afternoon, only a handful of halls (all on the West Coast) were still awaiting their copies. It is expected that ALL halls will have multiple copies of the edition for members to peruse when attending Union meetings next week.

Though not required by any M.E.B.A. guiding document, the Election Edition is a courtesy for members that may aid them in selecting candidates for Union office. The information contained in the issue cannot be finalized until the last membership meeting in August. That occurred on August 11. Due to the regular production time of putting out a magazine, a mailing of the election issue in late August is a normal occurrence. Delivery of the issue is subject to the U.S. Postal Service at this point.

BALLOTS MAIL OUT
Though it is a Saturday, ballots for the District No. 1-PCD, M.E.B.A. will mail out to all members in good standing tomorrow. The By-Laws state that ballots should be mailed out on September 1 of the election year unless the date falls on a Sunday or holiday.

Members will have until late November to fill them out and mail them to a depository in Washington D.C. where they will be collected by an Impartial Administrator and an elected Tallying committee on December 3, 2007.

As mentioned in past issues, the Telex Times is adhering to M.E.B.A. election season rules. The newsletter will refer to candidates for M.E.B.A. office only by position and not by name until the ballots have been tabulated. This policy exceeds regulations laid down by Section 401(g) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (“Landrum-Griffin"), 29 U.S.C. 481(g).

EXPANDED PENSION TABLE FOUND IN NEWSLETTER
The last issue of BenefitWatch, the newsletter issued by the M.E.B.A. Plan Office, contained an article titled "Lump Sum Value of M.E.B.A. Pension Benefit and the Pension Protection Act of 2006." The table found on page 10 of the newsletter generated some requests to the Plan Office for ages not listed.

The following table, prepared by the Plan's actuaries, contains the information for ages 50 to 65. This table contains illustrations of the actuaries’ estimate of the impact of the PPA lump sum changes on various hypothetical participants.

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

(F)

(G)

Participant Age at Distribution Date

Annual Annuity at Distribution Date

Lump Sum Value – Regulations prior to PPA

Lump Sum Value – PPA provisions for distributions in 2008

Lump Sum Value – PPA provisions for distributions in 2009

Difference in Lump Sum Value - pre PPA and 2008

Difference in Lump Sum Value - pre PPA and 2009

50

$50,000

$816,009

$800,119

$785,688

($15,890)

($30,321)

51

$50,000

$804,477

$790,124

$776,291

($14,353)

($28,186)

52

$50,000

$792,543

$779,682

$766,451

($12,861)

($26,092)

53

$50,000

$780,215

$768,784

$756,158

($11,431)

($24,057)

54

$50,000

$767,494

$757,441

$745,423

($10,053)

($22,071)

55

$50,000

$754,363

$745,645

$734,239

($8,718)

($20,124)

56

$50,000

$740,842

$733,425

$722,632

($7,417)

($18,210)

57

$50,000

$726,956

$720,810

$710,631

($6,146)

($16,325)

58

$50,000

$712,743

$707,810

$698,242

($4,933)

($14,501)

59

$50,000

$698,230

$694,439

$685,478

($3,791)

($12,752)

60

$50,000

$683,415

$680,699

$672,336

($2,716)

($11,079)

61

$50,000

$668,322

$666,608

$658,832

($1,714)

($9,490)

62

$50,000

$653,004

$652,206

$645,006

($798)

($7,998)

63

$50,000

$637,479

$637,467

$630,828

($12)

($6,651)

64

$50,000

$621,821

$622,439

$616,348

$618

($5,473)

65

$50,000

$606,039

$607,094

$601,533

$1,055

($4,506)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



NAVY OKAYS FIVE MORE MSC T-AKEs FROM NASSCO
The Military Sealift Command’s fleet of the future will continue its growth even further as the Navy has made arrangements for up to five additional newbuilds for the MSC. M.E.B.A. officers serve on all the MSC auxiliary ships that support Navy vessels worldwide.

San Diego’s NASSCO shipyard reached a deal with the Navy to build up to five new T-AKE dry cargo ammunition ships that will be valued at approximately $2.5 billion if all options are exercised. Including the nine ships previously under contract, this agreement means the San Diego shipyard would build a total of 14 T-AKE ships for the Navy.

Since October 2001, NASSCO has received contracts to build nine T-AKE ships and delivered the first three ships of the class. The fourth T-AKE is set to be delivered in November. Under the new agreement, NASSCO would deliver the fourteenth ship in the fourth quarter of 2014.

CALIFORNIA ACCOUNTANT’S “MARINER’S TAX  DEDUCTION” IS TARGET OF DOJ SUIT
Members who claimed a “mariner’s tax deduction” on the advice of a West Coast accountant may be regretting that move. The Justice Department last year filed suit seeking to bar Martin A. Kapp of El Segundo, California from preparing federal income tax returns claiming the mariner’s tax deduction, which the government claims is legally frivolous. The civil suit, filed in Los Angeles in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that Kapp prepares returns for mariners who work on barges and tugboats. The returns allegedly understated the mariners’ correct tax liabilities by deducting purported business expenses that they had not incurred.

The complaint alleges that Kapp prepared returns for the mariners claiming deductions for the costs of meals they received for free from their employers. According to the complaint, Kapp has taught college-level tax and accounting classes and specializes in preparing income tax returns for workers in the transportation industry, including mariners, airplane pilots and railroad engineers.

The lawsuit also asks the court to order Kapp to give the Justice Department a list of names, addresses, e-mail addresses and Social Security numbers of customers for whom he claimed a mariner’s deduction. The IRS recently listed return-preparer fraud as part of its 2006 list of the “Dirty Dozen“ tax scams, which is posted at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=154293,00.html. Since 2001, the Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions against more than 160 tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html.

GREEK SHIPPING COMPANY THAT HAD NO PLAN IS FINED
Washington State’s Department of Ecology has levied an $8,500 fine to the Greek shipping firm Marmaras Navigation Co. Ltd. for operating a cargo vessel in Washington waters without a state-approved oil spill readiness plan. The penalty against Marmaras Navigation marks the first time Ecology has levied a fine under its new oil spill contingency plan rule adopted in October 2006.

The Ecology Dept. requires that cargo and passenger ships, tank vessels, oil storage facilities and pipeline companies demonstrate that they can mount an effective, timely response if they spill oil. Under the rule, the vessel must either have their own approved spill readiness plan or be enrolled in one of the two non-profit organizations with approved plans that cover vessels in Washington.

They discovered that the Marmaras ship M/V THEODOROS P entered Washington waters on May 26 without a spill readiness plan. The next day, the company paid to enroll under a state-approved blanket readiness plan operated by the Seattle-based Washington State Maritime Cooperative. The fine was based on the five days the ship was in Washington waters without coverage. They could have been fined up to $100,000 a day.

NEXT REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Tuesday, September 4 – Baltimore, Boston, Houston, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Seattle;
Wednesday, September 5 – Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, September 6 – L.A., New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, September 7 – Honolulu.
 

--------FINISHED WITH ENGINES---------