I just used tenure to describe a history with the company. Most of the CMs have been there 7 plus years.
I don’t see them dropping wages at all without rocking the boat pretty hard. But who knows? The Matrix time will definitely be a plus for OSG.
Just a side note. Sam Norton and Damon Mote both came out with letters last week trying to quell any rumors about OSG collaborating with AMO. They were very careful in their wording not to deny anything outright. But everyone knows they did everything but lie it was happening.
Some (most) have been sailing here since they were 3M. Some did their cadetship on an OSG Tanker and hired after graduation… The Sr. positions are not stagnant at all they almost always promote from within.
Isn’t the MPB just an IRA donation that the employee doesn’t have to match?
OSG MEBA contract is currently 6% MPB+F. I am pretty sure that goes to 7% MPB+F on 07/01/23. And the 3.7% the employee pays of the 11.7% Pension MOU drops to 3.2% on 07/01/23 (OSG pays 8.0% of that now) .
Just to help those who may be confused about terms like MPB+F, I’d like to chime in here:
Money Purchase Benefit (MPB) is simply money that goes into its own account in the member’s name at Fidelity. Applicants/members are fully vested from day one so you won’t lose any money if you leave MEBA after a short while. At OSG, the rate is currently 7% of your base pay for both when you’re on the ship and when you’re home. In any discussion about MEBA plans, if you hear the term “plus Feinberg” (aka, +F), that means the payments occur both when you’re on the ship and while you’re on vacation. MPB does function just like a 401k match in that the company puts in the money and it stays in the member’s MPB account growing tax deferred until withdrawal. This can happen without penalty at 59.5 years of age.
11.7% pension contributions. There is a longer story regarding the history of this but the bottom line for those thinking of joining is that currently with OSG, all MEBA members pay 3.2% of all their wages into the pension fund.
I would be interested to hear your reasoning for this.
Or better yet, if there’s any ex-OSG mates that went to Keystone with the ex-OSG ships on here, I would like to hear their side of it. Especially if there’s any C/Ms who now enjoy OVERTIME for all hours between 5pm and 8am in addition to minimum 2 or 4 hours of OT when called out on the weekdays/weekends respectively. I know the C/M’s get KILLED during cargo ops and now (at Keystone) they’re actually getting compensated for it.
Or, how about any 2Ms who are looking at that long, expensive list of classes to become C/M. Free of charge for tuition, lodging, meals, and travel for MEBA members. OSG’s policy? Pay out of pocket up front, then, IF we hire you as a C/M, we’ll pay you back over X number of years. And I believe that’s for tuition only (not sure on that point).
In my experience companies try to contract with the union that costs them less insofar as pension contributions are concerned. Companies HATE paying into union pensions. Compare the pension contributions the company has to make to the union pension fund and the record of the pension itself. MEBA has a pretty good record. AMO? Don’t know about now but they have had their problems in the past.
401K is nice but it is not the same as a pension. If the market is down when you retire with a 401k you get less, at times much less. Pensions are a defined benefit and no 401k or IRA will define your benefit. Federal employees and the military get a defined benefit pension and are not dependent on 401K for retirement though they may optionally contribute to a thrift savings plan. Unions should at least offer the same
AMO also offers this (except travel), and looking at the schedule on MEBA’s site, The star center has the deck upgrade classes way more often than MEBA does. And Im sure Baltimore is a lovely place to spend a couple months… or you could take your family on a vacation to Florida with you.
I think a 401k is a much better retirement plan than a pension. [Edit: I did a whole bunch of wrong math here, but i still would rather bet on a 401k than a pension.
I agree that you might be able to do better with a 401k compared to just a pension BUT MEBA has an MPB, pension AND 401k. Although no companies provide a match to the 401k. I know many MEBA engineers max out their 401k every year, have the MPB and pension and they’re doing very well
Amo also has MBP but its not worth much in my opinion. Its like 3% for new folks and goes up from there. And yes, while the pention works great now, joining the union you’ve got to wonder what type of shape It’ll be in by 2043. Given the way most pentions in america have gone, I wouldnt let it sway me one way or the other. Personally I’m not even betting on healthcare benefits to mean much long term, given the chance that america may figure out healthcare in the next 20 years. I think when folks are joining a union today, they need to consider their retirement as what they can save, not what they should be entitled to if all goes well.
Please explain to me the math that will take a maximum contribution of $22,500 (current max. 401k contribution in 2023) per year while earning 8% annually and will have an ending balance of $11,000,000 twenty years later. I have a feeling I have been doing something wrong.
Because the vote for MEBA will essentially be a vote between MEBA and AMO. I think it will be good to do a side by side of MEBA and AMO.
MEBA initiation is 4K
How much is AMO initiation?
How much are AMO dues?
Nothing is confirmed but I believe the OSG mates who went to Keystone and joined MEBA got this waived. I heard that but can’t confirm, hope somebody here can confirm one way or the other.
