Ask @injunear how he likes his pension.
Not currently. Masters at G&H Towing are making $720/day today. Per the CBA, on Sept. 1, 2025, that will be $756/day. I was extrapolating forward. 
And yes, G&H fully funds the company/mariner contribution. $88/day or something like that.
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I misremembered (actually I was quoting an SIU Asst VP who apparently rounded up). It’s actually funded at 143% of obligations, currently. The example scenariosin the PDF are for the “capped” pension plan and are not applicable to inland officers – they exclusively use the wage percentage method in the “uncapped” plan, so far as I know. And yes, I personally know people who are living very, very comfortably on their pension, SHBP coverage, and Social Security/Medicare. But they could no doubt live comfortably on just the pension.
I could do the math but I am not 100% certain of creditable days. Mates do not get full credit the first five years, but then get (I think) 2 days retirement credit for every day worked. Oh hell, I’ll give it a shot … Just as a rough, back of the napkin estimate, 43 years service, 38 at 2:1 … The first five years count for something, but I am unsure how much, so let’s just use the 38 years for a normal retirement age of 65 (assuming a mate who starts at 22). 365x38÷365=38x2%=76%. Assuming $756 is the average of five highest years of the last 10 (it will actually be higher, I presume), the annual benefit will be 756x183=$138,348 annual x 0.76 = $105,144 annual, or $8762/mo.
I can’t recall what I originally guesstimated, but I am pretty sure this is how it works for the guys I worked with.
I think I’m expecting a whopping $130/mo or something from SIU when I retire, so don’t really have a stake in this discussion (though I’ve nearly convinced myself to go back …for the pension. 
). I was just trying to answer the OP question from an SIU perspective. Don’t know much about AMO (other than SIU has an agreement for a one-time transfer of benefits for members switching).
I see this in the plan PDF: Generally, there is no limit on the amount of the monthly benefit for seamen or
boatmen whose employers are paying the proper amount to the Plan.
Yeah, I saw that too. If you work 45 years with 2:1 pension credit that whole time maybe you can get 80-90%.
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That is one of the issues I have with the SIU’s pension. Unless you are an official or perhaps employed in a “shoregang” arrangement it is near impossible to get 365 days pension credit in a calendar year. My son sails out of the SIU and I have tried to tell him that while he (usually) gets paid well as a QMED, it is all on the front tend. The back end, i.e., retirement sucks, IMO. For several years he worked steady on Oceanographic Survey T-AGS ships. It was 4 months on, 4 months off. Vacation was 15 for 30. Vacation pay/credit only covered half of his time off. It varied year to year but on average he got 10 months pension credit instead of 12 months.
Hard to get a “high 5” when the cards are seemingly stacked against you. I sailed out of the MEBA. My optics on this are a lot different.
In the past I’ve not so jokingly referred to the SIU pension as a supplement to Social Security.
That’s because there is virtually no way they are going to bump up against the ERISA limits.
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Not for officers sailing inland. I think it’s kind of baked in.
I am glad that my comments stimulated discussion. I sailed unlicensed with the SIU in the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. The deep sea pension then was truly pathetic requiring 20 years of seatime (no pension credit for vacation time) to retire at 55 and then you would get, I believe, $750 a month. Around the time I was moving on, they allowed you to get extra credit if you had your 20 years in and could get additional retirement pay for additional seatime. That was good and probably required under ERISA because the SIU pension plan was over-funded. There were special arrangements for the inland pension plans which pretty much disappeared when they had the “lock-out” by management of McAllister and Moran towing in 1988 which got rid of union representation for the most part on the east coast.
If you are looking at getting a pension that will support you comfortably in your retirement, you worked hard to get it and deserve (and have paid for) every penny. I am happy for you but, you and your union brothers and sisters need to stay on top of this at all times. The hand that giveth can taketh away! It has happened before. I think if you talk to recent retirees in the SIU, I think you will find that the rather paltry pensions for “Juan”, “Bob”, “Al”, “Susan” and “Lloyd” are the norm rather than the exception.
As others have said, you also need to pay yourself. I received a very substantial “buy-out” from the MEBA but I also had almost as much saved up in my MPB, 401-K, & IRA. I hope all of you on this forum will have a similar outcome at the end of your sailing days.
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Only if you’re working for a company with 2:1 pension contributions and they don’t change it while you’re there.
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I remember many years ago reading the SIU rag there was the usual “Pension” article. The line that caught my eye was “…the pension you could receive is a supplement to Social Security”. Back then the max SIU pension was $800 a month. I know before I retired the max had moved up to $1100 a month.
As someone mentioned back up a few posts AMO no longer has a Defined Benefit Pension. See page 4 of the attachment to see what happened back in 2009 to that pension. I know as time passed things did not get better for them and “no longer has a Defined Benefit Pension” covers it. Couldn’t really tell you, I drank with some of the AMO guys that this impacted at the Seaman’s club on the Island.
AMO rag with pension news.pdf (2.0 MB)
Damn… I left AMO in ‘05 when the McKay fiasco was going on. I can’t help but wonder if their “activities” may have been a big part of the pension plan biting the dust.
Did I miss the “/s”? 
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But they told everyone “don’t worry!!! The pension plan is fine! Nobody will lose out…” Are you saying they may have lied? 
Of course they lied. Meanwhile MEBA kept paying. Members have an obligation to look at who is managing their money and how its being managed. If you have questions ask. Demand answers.
Remember a defined benefit plan is different from a 401k. With a 401k you are at the whim of the stock market. I know people who retired in 2007 but saw their 401k go so low in 2010 they had to work teaching STCW classes. Meanwhile the defined benefit pension folks just enjoyed their retirement
Not to rub salt in wounds or be a genius in hindsight but this is why when you retire you should look into a fixed income investments. Yes, Members are should know who is managing their money and how it’s being managed, but when the member is managing it themselves it’s important to be financially literate.
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There is no max now.