Skip to main content

Inland Units / Govt Fleet

Adam Vokac Wearing a POID Shirt

The Inland and Govt Fleet divisions represent a substantial portion of the MEBA membership. They provide local clout and influence where they operate. Some units have dedicated reps which handle the majority of their needs. Other units still need more direct representation, as they currently do not feel the same unionism of the MEBA deep sea. The task to properly represent them is not easy, as govt agencies often do not have an incentive to operate efficiently or fairly, or because the inland units have wide ranging contracts and work rules to suit their locality.

We need to correct those scenarios, and ensure we are doing our job as the MEBA to represent each of them, and have them proud to state they are in our union. The largest inland units have moved to a percentage based dues system to both ensure they pay their own costs, but also to increase with inflation and incentivize the MEBA to get them solid wage increases. We need to provide proper representation to all of the inland units, and continue to transition the remaining ones to this percentage based system, after ensuring they understand the value of the MEBA.

The Government Fleet also needs increased representation, as they have sincere influence in Washington and have large numbers. They also act as a pipeline to deep sea and have many senior level engineers. Splitting the Government Fleet duty off from a deep sea Branch Agent should be the first move, so that the Government Fleet rep can focus solely on the complexity of the government contracts and agencies. The members of the Government Fleet have the option to join the MEBA or not to, and we must ensure we maintain good reason for them to be part of our organization.

Here is a list of all our Inland Units and Government Fleet Units: