Potential MEBA / ARA (American Radio Association) merger still being planned behind the scenes

[JBinFL]

Hello to all MEBA & ARA folks,

What and why: This is an announcement about what has occurred over the past few years, and what is happening now. The reason for this message is the fact that ARA members are quite aware of this potential merger, but MEBA members/affiliates may be in the dark about these issues.

Summary: MEBA and ARA leaders have been discussing a potential merger since 2020 at the latest, probably earlier. Leadership’s stated main reason is to save ARA’s supposedly “failing” pension plan, with secondary reasons being to merge memberships.

There was so much drama that happened in 2025 alone. That can be discussed based on comments to this announcement. Hoping there is not a lack of interest about this!

Issues on ARA’s side:

• ARA Leadership has failed the union by focusing purely on this proposed merger rather than growing the union by aggressively pursuing new contracts.
• ILWU, the present backbone for all things ARA, was not approached until a certain member outed ARA leadership by contacting the ILWU president himself. NOTE: ARA is a direct affiliate of the ILWU.
• Many members are old enough to remember MEBA’s shady dealings in the past, particularly surrounding pension plan issues. I personally was a young UMOA member back in the early 90s. I can remember all the details surrounding the events in David Whiteley’s book “In Peace and War: The True Story of a Maritime Union’s Fight for Democracy.” It was tough times, and times I will never forget. In Peace and War: The True Story of a Maritime Union's Fight for Democracy: Whiteley, David: 9781961641426: Amazon.com: Books
• The loss of the present ARA training benefits, which are spectacular at the least. Who wants to lose this just to a “brick and mortar” school existing as mainly a hotel/center for external conference attendees. Big deal.
• ARA’s legal counsel/director is a 91-year-old attorney out of New York. A growing consensus of ARA members have been looking to oust this relic for years. It is the belief that present ARA leadership, ARA President in particular, have been blinded and led astray. They’re all ex-Radio Operators anyway! Clueless.
• ARA members: Keep an eye on payouts and payoffs. Severance will certainly come in the form of LARGE payouts if a merger goes through.
• ARA President has informed internal membership that he had a new planned role as (ETO Advisor, or the like) if/when the merger went through. Fair?
• Why this total focus on MEBA? Why not have discussions with other unions or organizations?

Issues on MEBA’s side:

• Who wants Radio Operators in MEBA?
• Why have we been kept in the dark about this?
• Has that union push for the ETO endorsement been about this issue all along?

Issues on both sides:

• Segal Marco Advisors (or their umbrella organization) sits on both sides of the fence. They “manage” or monitor both MEBA and ARA pension plans. How fair or unbiased can they be in this position? Also, they will certainly be billing each union for their assistance.

• The present ARA/Matson contract is up for renewal in a few years. What will happen without ILWU’s backing? MEBA does not have the backbone for West Coast contracts that ILWU can offer. Those Radio Op billets may just disappear without any ETO billets to replace them. Matson would love to see this for sure.
• Lack of transparency throughout. How much do you know about any of this?
• Any extension of the Jones Act waiver may just screw everybody.

The Future:

• Supposedly there will be a surprise MEBA guest at a forthcoming ARA zoom meeting to discuss these things. Rex Rexha?
• This is NOT a dead issue.

Hoping the best for all union members.

Good luck.

[JBinFL]

From today’s email:

NOTICE OF SPECIAL ARA MEMBERSHIP MEETING – MAY 27, 2026

The agenda at the last several membership meetings has included the critical issues of the ARA Pension Plan solvency and possible merger/affiliation with the MEBA.

We have reported on our efforts to find a suitable merger partner for the Pension Plan including ILWU affiliated plans.

As reported to the membership by Jake Pine, the actuarial advisor to the ARA Plan, we met with the ILWU plan’s actuarial advisor who agreed that their Plan unfortunately did not have the financial stability to absorb the ARA Pension Plan’s existing liabilities and was therefore not a suitable merger partner.

At the April 23^rd meeting we presented the membership with the available options.

In response to the MEBA option the membership posed several questions and proposed that a representative from MEBA address the ARA membership to provide answers to the most pressing questions many members raised.

In response to your request, we have invited MEBA President Adam Vokac to meet with the membership.

President Vokac has graciously accepted our invitation to make himself available to meet with the membership on May 27, 2026, at 3:00pm Eastern time to address any questions you may have.

[JBinFL]

Meeting reminder: May 27, 2026, at 3:00pm Eastern time

[Sand_Pebble]

How did it go @JBinFL ? Ya,ll merging or not?

[JBinFL]

Didn’t attend. Will post an update whenever I get some news.

I’m curious if we’ll get any replies from MEBA members with their thoughts!

[JBinFL]

From a friend of a friend who attended the meeting:

Vokac stated that MEBA had already voted on this. I do not know if this meant a membership meeting or a behind-the-scenes meeting. The vote was a “Yea” to merge, or at least accept ARA’s pension plan.

Vokac stated that MEBA’s goal was to be the ONLY maritime union representing all officer ranks and billets.

(I hope nothing got lost in communications through the grapevine, but this was the gist of the meeting).

---

I would expect a date for an ARA referendum to drop soon. The longer leadership waits, the closer they get to a new election.

[JBinFL]

Nothing mentioned about Vokac attending the meeting in the latest MEBA Telex Times newsletter.

[AKBJR]

“Vokac stated that MEBA’s goal was to be the ONLY maritime union representing all officer ranks and billets.”

Given the MEBAs history of deck officer representation, I see this as highly unlikely to happen. During my time there it consisted of 99% sweetheart deals with wages and vacation days in the lowest tiers. I was in more than one under-provisioned ship, denied O.T. for doing unlicensed work (in a couple of ships as 2nd Mate I actually ended up the one to splice new eyes in mooring wires, as the SIU deck gang claimed they didn’t know how), and was not at all helped by the reps.

[JBinFL]

Still nothing on MEBA’s end…