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

MEBA TELEX TIMES           OCTOBER 03, 2008

The Official Union Newsletter

NUMBER 40

In this issue...
New Executive V.P....MERCY returns...Stronger piracy control urged...Aker gets to work on next ship...AH-CHOO!! Congested with infectious news articles, we feverishly cough up a contagious new issue that'll give you the chills. Don't take a turn for the worse with sickening, red-throated newsletters that leave you in a cold sweat. We sniff at those stuffed-up, bitter pills and give them a taste of their own medicine as we inoculate you with a multi-symptom, maritime cure-all. Just what the doctor ordered, the Telex Times is nothing to sneeze at!

NIZETICH TAKES OVER AS EXECUTIVE V.P.
M.E.B.A.'s District Executive Committee has appointed Mike Nizetich as the new Executive Vice President/Branch Agent of San Francisco following Ed MacCormack's retirement this month. Mike had served as the L.A. Branch Agent since November 2006 and Patrolman in that hall for the four years previous. The vacancy in L.A. will be filled by Larry Young who has been appointed as the new Branch Agent. Larry had already been serving the members in the hall as Patrolman.

In our New York Union hall, Joseph Martucci has resigned his position as Representative to pursue other opportunities.

Both Ed and Joe were exemplary officials and were considered assets to the M.E.B.A. These Union Brothers will be missed and President Keefe wishes them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

USNS MERCY RETURNS FROM HUMANITARIAN DEPLOYMENT
The M.E.B.A.-crewed Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS MERCY has returned to San Diego after completing a four-month humanitarian mission.

Throughout the 2008 Pacific Partnership mission, MERCY served as an enabling platform for military and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate and carry out relationship-building work in the Republic of the Philippines, Vietnam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. During this year's mission more than 90,000 patients were treated by the medical teams from MERCY. Among those treated were more than 14,000 dental patients and more than 1,300 surgery patients in various locations throughout the Western Pacific.

"With thousands of people who benefitted from the mission, it's humbling to think that only 67 civilian mariners drove the ship," said MERCY's civil service master, Capt. Robert Wiley. "While MERCY's focus was primarily medical, the mission wouldn't have been possible without the civil service mariners getting the ship were it needed to go."

Because of MERCY's size, it wasn't able to pull pierside in any of the countries, so civil service mariners also operated two 33-foot utility boats that were used to ferry patients and mission personnel between ship and shore. "The mariners were the first that patients saw and the last when they departed," said Navy Capt. Jim Rice, MERCY's embarked Military Treatment Facility commander. "They left a lasting impression."

In addition to running the ship and transporting patients, MERCY's civil service mariners contributed to Pacific Partnership's community outreach. They assisted Navy Seabees with engineering projects that improved life for people in the host countries. The projects ranged from repairing plumbing, playground equipment and lighting in a local school and health clinic in Vietnam to fixing air conditioning in a hospital in Papua New Guinea.

"Throughout Pacific Partnership, the professionalism of MERCY's civilian mariners and the support of Military Sealift Command were vital to the success of the mission," said Navy Capt. William Kearns, Pacific Partnership mission commander.

ITF, INDUSTRY CALL FOR STRONGER PATROLLING OF PIRACY
A broad coalition representing international shipping interests, including the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), has issued a statement expressing dismay with recent comments that it is not the job of navy forces to protect merchant ships and their crews from increasingly frequent attacks from pirates operating out of Somalia. These disheartening comments were attributed to leaders of the Coalition Task Force operating in the Gulf of Aden. M.E.B.A. is part of the ITF which represents around four and a half million transport workers worldwide.

The coalition statement points out that pirates have been attacking ships on a daily basis with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, and currently holding over 200 seafarers hostage. The pirates are operating with impunity, while, for the most part, governments stand idly by.

This comes on the heels of an incident last week where an M.E.B.A. ship (USNS JOHN LENTHALL) was approached by two small boats off the coast of Somalia. The boats, believed to be full of pirates, retreated after an embarked security team aboard the ship fired warning shots. In another high profile incident that also occurred last week, pirates hijacked a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 Russian tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns. Since then, the vessel (the FAINA) was located near a coastal village 300 miles north of Mogadishu. It has been surrounded by foreign warships including U.S. Navy vessels. As this issue went to press, the pirates aboard the FAINA were demanding a $20 million dollar ransom for the release of the ship and announced that they were preparing to stave off any commando-style rescue attempts.

The coalition statement issued by ITF and others declared that had it been civil aircraft being hijacked on a daily basis, international governments would announce immediate remedies and take action. They questioned why ships - which are the lifeblood of the global economy - are seemingly out of sight and out of mind. "This apparent indifference to the lives of merchant seafarers and the consequences for society at large is simply unacceptable."

The statement continues:

The shipping industry is utterly amazed that the world's leading nations, with the naval resources at their disposal, are unable to maintain the security of one of the world's most strategically important seaways, linking Europe to Asia via the Red Sea/Suez Canal. Since 9/11, the international shipping industry has spent billions of dollars to comply with stringent new security requirements, agreed by the international community to address concerns about terrorism. Yet when merchant ships - which carry 90% of world trade and keep the world economy moving - are subject to attack by violent pirates, the response of many governments is that it is not their problem and that ships should hire mercenaries to protect themselves.

...The international shipping industry, in the strongest possible way, urges governments to commit the necessary navy vessels now, and to ensure they have the freedom to engage forcefully against any act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Governments must issue clear rules of engagement to allow naval forces to intercept and take appropriate action against these violent pirates, and the oceangoing 'motherships' from which the pirates are operating, as permitted by UN Security Council Resolution 1816, of 2 June 2008, and existing international law about the rights of States to repress criminal acts on the high seas. Governments must also ensure that these pirates and armed robbers, who are terrorizing the high seas, are brought to justice in a court of law and are not allowed to resume their piratical activities unimpeded because of governments' unwillingness to take the necessary action.

There should be no doubt that the situation is now so serious that major shipping companies, who are currently negotiating with charterers to avoid transiting the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea/Suez Canal all together, will decide to redirect their ships via the Cape of Good Hope. This would add several weeks to the duration of many ships' voyages and would have severe consequences for international trade, the maintenance of inventories and the price of fuel and raw materials. This would also affect not just those countries to which cargoes are destined but all global seaborne trade, a consequence which, in the current economic climate, must surely be avoided. A repeat of the crisis in the early 1970s, when the Suez Canal was closed and shipping was similarly diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, must be prevented at all cost, thus this call for urgent measures now - today and not tomorrow!

AKER BEGINS WORK ON OVERSEAS PORT ARTHUR
Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has begun work on Hull 013, the ninth product tanker in a series of twelve to be built for American Shipping Company, bareboat chartered to OSG America and crewed up with expert M.E.B.A. officers. When completed, the 46,000 dwt vessel will be 600 feet in length and be capable of transporting the equivalent of 14 million gallons of liquid product. Upon completion, it is set to be named the OVERSEAS PORT ARTHUR.

Currently there are three other vessels at the yard under construction in various stages that will become part of the M.E.B.A. fleet upon completion. They are the OVERSEAS BOSTON, OVERSEAS NIKISKI and the OVERSEAS TAMPA.

ATTENTION MARINERS! COAST GUARD TWIC NOTICE
The Coast Guard issued a notice to mariners some months ago reminding them of important information related to the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program and urging them to obtain a TWIC well in advance of the new deadline.

As members know, the original implementation date of September 25, 2008 was extended to April 15, 2009. However, certain Captain of the Port Zones have been designated for earlier compliance start-dates beginning as early as 12 days from now. A framework showing expected compliance dates by Captain of the Port Zones is available on the U.S. Coast Guard's Homeport site at http://homeport.uscg.mil/twic.  The Coast Guard notice is excerpted below:

By law, all U.S. Coast Guard-credentialed mariners with an active Merchant Mariner's Document (MMD), License, and/or Certificate of Registry (COR), with or without an STCW endorsement, must hold a valid TWIC to maintain their mariner credentials. Failure to obtain and continue to hold a valid TWIC may result in suspension or revocation of your mariner credentials. After April 15, 2009, the Coast Guard will not issue a merchant mariner credential to an applicant who does not hold a valid TWIC.

To apply for a TWIC, you must first enroll at any TWIC enrollment center. Pre-enrollment through the TSA website, www.tsa.gov/twic,  will expedite processing time at the center. You will need to pick up your TWIC, after being notified that it is ready, at the same enrollment center where you applied. In order to ensure the information on your TWIC application is forwarded to the U.S. Coast Guard for the processing of your merchant mariner credential application, you must identify yourself as a mariner at the TWIC enrollment center. You must also provide proof of citizenship and/or alien status and your Social Security Number.

For now, you must still apply separately for your original or renewal merchant mariner credential through the U.S. Coast Guard in person at a Regional Exam Center. In the future, TWIC holders may be able to conduct their merchant mariner credential transactions with the Coast Guard entirely by mail.

If your MMD was issued after February 3, 2003, or your License was issued after January 13, 2006, you are eligible for a reduced-fee TWIC because those credentials are based on similar threat assessments. However, a reduced-fee TWIC will expire at the same time as your mariner credential. The full-fee TWIC will be valid for five years after issuance. To get the most for your money, we suggest that you only choose to receive the reduced-fee TWIC if your MMD or License was issued less than 14 months prior to the date of your TWIC enrollment.

The requirement to obtain a TWIC was established by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) and is outlined in Title 46, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 10.113 and 12.01-11. The TWIC program is administered by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard. Mariners may use their valid Coast Guard-issued MMD, License or COR, along with a valid photo ID, to be eligible for unescorted access in secure areas of any MTSA-regulated facility that has a compliance date earlier than April 15, 2009.

VOTER REGISTRATION/ABSENTEE BALLOTS OBTAINED THROUGH WEBSITE
Time is running out for those who are not yet registered to vote and wish to help choose the next U.S. President along with state and regional lawmakers. Most states close down voter registration at various dates in October. If you are not yet registered to vote, you should do so immediately. There are many websites that facilitate the process including www.rockthevote.com.

Members and retirees should be also aware of a website that makes it easy to obtain absentee ballots for the November elections.

www.longdistancevoter.org is a great resource for U.S.-based absentee voters. The website has forms, provides deadline dates and easy-to-follow directions for getting an absentee ballot for those voting within the U.S. They also provide links for those who need to cast their vote while outside the country. Additionally, the site also includes information about registering to vote.

There is a "voter guide" at the bottom of the main page where you can click on your state. A slew of information will pop up that will allow you to obtain the right forms, view deadlines and get all the information you need to make your vote count in November.

Please register to vote and participate in the general election on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Monday, October 6 - Boston, Jacksonville, Seattle;
Tuesday, October 7 - Baltimore, Houston, San Francisco;
Wednesday, October 8 - Calhoon School, Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, October 9 - L.A., New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, October 10 - Honolulu. 

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