WHY DON'T YOU WRITE

WHY DONT YOU WRITE

I know I am not the only one who has been basically ignored by the current fools on the hill. Very frustrating to say the least. One could reason that since much of what they say cannot be trusted, they in turn must feel they cannot trust us not to modify any statement that they make through editing any e-mail that they would send out to active members or retirees seeking answers to the most basic of questions.


I believe Mike Jewell in his campaign in 04 had an interesting idea called "Mondays with Mike"

""If elected your President, I will create “Monday’s With Mike” where you can reach me directly in person or by phone with your questions or concerns.
We can work together to meet any challenge. I will not make promises to you that I cannot keep. I expect you to hold me accountable to that.""

He was going to make himself available to answer and respond to any and all questions submitted to him. Honesty and integrity will always prove the
best path to follow.


The following is an example of the lack or response or even common courtesy from current Union Administration.

Below sent 3-29 as a follow up to to original sent 3-15

Ron Davis
President MEBA

Allen Szcymczak
Plan Administrator

I am resubmitting this request from two weeks ago. Obviously all of you must be very busy men to have not responded. It took me all of 60 seconds to open e-mail, hit reply, answer questions with a simple yes-no answer and
then hit send. Yes you must be very busy men indeed.

-----Original Message-----
From: wff
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 7:04 AM
To:
'rdavis@d1meba.org';
'aszymczak@mebaplans.org';
'Mary Gibson'
Cc:
'bjacque@d1meba.org';
'cmcintyre@d1meba.org';
'bvanloo@d1meba.org';
'jmccurdy@d1meba.org';
'dkeefe@d1meba.org'

Subject: Medical Plan Questionnaire

Ran Davis
President MEBA

Allen Szcymczak
Plan Administrator

Re: Medical Plan

A few simple questions that I would like answered as there are
many rumors and confusion being spread through the ranks of retirees and active
participants of the Medical Plan:

1. Are retirees that dropped out of Plan following actions taken at
October 05 Trustees Meeting being allowed to opt back into Plan followingctions at February Trustees Meeting?
2. Are retirees with dependents being allowed to drop dependent coverage as their individual circumstances dictate?
3. Is there going to be a 1.5% assessment on base wages for active member participants in the Medical Plan?
4. If there is a 1.5% assessment will it also apply to the non member participants in the Medical Plan?

As I am sending this request to multiple recepients I am hoping that at least one of you would have the time to respond to these important
questions.

thankyou

wff

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HOW DAVIS GETS WHAT HE WANTS

How Davis gets what he wants from you.

Davis is fond of legitimizing himself by stating that Members “overwhelmingly” voted for (whatever the issue is). But you are being played for the fool.

Gustave Le Bon in his book “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind” (original French 1895, English translation 1897) wrote:


The most striking peculiarity presented by a psychological crowd is the following: Whoever be the individuals that compose it, however like or unlike be their mode of life, their occupations, their character, or their intelligence, the fact that they have been transformed into a crowd puts them in possession of a sort of collective mind which makes them feel, think, and act in a manner quite different from that in which each individual of them would feel, think, and act were he in a state of isolation. There are certain ideas and feelings which do not come into being, or do not transform themselves into acts except in the case of individuals forming a crowd. The psychological crowd is a provisional being formed of heterogeneous elements, which for a moment are combined, exactly as the cells which constitute a living body form by their reunion a new being which displays characteristics very different from those possessed by each of the cells singly.


This observation serves to explain why MEBA Members at Union Meetings “overwhelmingly” vote in favor of whatever the Union leadership wants.

But not everything that we vote on gets the vote the Union wants. What about that?

There are isolated incidents where Members vote against the will of the Union Leadership. All it means is that the Leadership fails to successfully manipulate the Members on occasion.

This is why the Davis Administration will never present you with important information in a manner which allows the careful consideration which many things deserve. You will never be given the chance to have all the information required and have the conditions needed to reach a rational, carefully considered position. By manipulating the voting Members into upholding the wishes of the Leadership, Davis gets what he wants. But it does not end there. Davis then seeks to legitimize this by saying the Members “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of whatever it was he needed from you.

Does this mean that everything you vote on is against your greater interests? No, of course not. But what it does mean is that your judgment is in effect impaired by the conditions under which you decide what would be good for the Union and the Members.

But the crowd mentality problem goes even further. Even if you are given a chance to look at the information and make a rational choice, you then are influenced by the Union Official running the meeting to vote the way he wants. In a crowd situation people tend to look for Leaders and put there trust in them, rather than themselves.

To think that you are too clever to fall for such a ruse is denial. Read the Le Bon excerpt again carefully. Also, if you think that Davis is not clever enough (the “I’m too stupid to cheat” defense) to put one over on you, remember, he can hire consultants (with your dues money) who are experts at this sort of stuff.

So now that you have this important knowledge should you automatically vote against everything Davis wants? Not necessarily, you just have to learn everything you can about the issue at hand, make your own decision and then TRUST YOURSELF and stick with YOUR decision.

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FACT OR FICTION or IS IT ELECTION TIME

During the election period in 2004 MEBA Union Officials were characterizing the Union operated Medical Plan as being in good condition.

From an A Team2 flyer:

“Every good MEBA Marine Officer knows numbers matter.
When running a maritime union these are the numbers that mean something.
New Ships 2002-2004 plus 27.
More ships, more work, more jobs on the open board that in years.
Under the MEBATEAM II leadership we’ve successfully secured more ships and more jobs than any administration in the last 20 years.
On top of that, these gains also mean that we can ensure retiree medical benefits well into the future.”

From another Team2 flyer:

“Benefit Plans & Funds
The MEBA Medical Plan is in sound financial shape. It is the healthiest medical plan in the maritime industry. It has more that $40 Million in reserves to pay for medical claims. Contribution into the Medical Plan for 2003 were in excess of $34 Million. Bottom line is that the Medical Plan is bringing in more money than it pays out, and this will only continue because we have negotiated excellent contribution rates into every contract over the past three years”

From yet another Team2 Flyer:

“Keeping 70 years of MEBA experience working for You - Fighting for jobs. Keeping your health plan sound ………..
We’ve put that experience to work for you and your family over the last three years with results that mean concrete gains for you and your family:

Medical Benefits ensured well into the future”

From the July 23, 2004 MEBATeam2I letter signed by Davis:

“You said keep our benefits stabilized. At a time when many other families are concerned over the status of their health care plans and loss of benefits, we worked hard at ensuring the financial health of our MEBA Medical Plan, not only making it more secure but even improving our medical benefits.”

And:

“The MEBA Medical Plan is the healthiest plan in the maritime industry. It has more than $40 Million dollars in reserves to pay for medical claims. Contributions into the medical plan for 2003 were in excess of 34 million dollars. The benefit payments and administrative expenses were $32.7 million dollars. Thus, the medical plan brought in more money than it paid out.”

The Union’s Legal Representative William Doyle posted this last statement on the Official MEBA Members Internet Bulletin Board, on August 8 2004. In his position, he is privy to information ordinary Members do not get to see. Doyle makes this obvious by continuing:

“The retiree medical liabilities are reported by MEBA on its financial statements as required by SOP 92-6. These figures incorporate future benefit payments for current retirees and current actives (when they retire). The timeframe for the payments extend from the current day and look forward for up to 70 years.”

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