a3SiBna53i30s SEAFARERSA^LOG OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE SEAFARERS INTERNATIONAL UNION » ATLANTIC, GULF, LAKES AND INLAND WATERS DISTRICT * AFL-CIO AFL-CIO Fights Anti-Strike Move Aimed at Transportation Unions (See Page 3) ir Top US. Official Disputes Scheme To Liquidate All USPHS Hospitals h-.< (See Page 3) 1st '20-at-55' Retiree Lauds New SlU Plan (See Page 5) John Glass (right) becomes the first SIU member to retire under the Union's "20-at-55" pension plan. He is presented his first check by Baltimore Patrolman Bennie Wilson. Seafarer Receives Vacation Check Totalling $7,000 (See Page 6) Seafarer Cyrus Crooks (right) receives a check totalling $3,667 from SIU Mobile Patrolman Robert Jordan. This check, plus two others pre­ " V-' sented Crooks, gave him back vacation pay of over $7,000. of SIU Constitution (See Pages 13-20) Educafion Conference of HLSS 250 SlU Members Study Their Union Piney Point, Md. give them a solid opportunity What is the SIU? What are to review the problems facing its aims and goals? How does both the union and the industry. it operate? What are its rules "It will give all of us a chance and regulations; its functions to see where we are coming and responsibilities? How does from," he declared. "It will it relate to the maritime in­ give us a chance to see where dustry? we stand today and where we Some 250 rank-and-file Sea­ are going." farers learned answers to these He made it clear that the in­ questions at a two-week Edu­ dustry is in a difficult position cational Conference at the and "faces a trying period for • Harry Lundeberg School of the next few years." The Mer­ Seamanship here. chant Marine Act of 1970 was SIU members register at the motel desk for the start of the two-week educational conference at the Harry i (See Editorial, Page 10.) a great victory, he said, but Lundeberg Scliool of Seamanship at Piney Point. The conference is designed to give members a better un­ Delegates to the meeting, "the real work—making the derstanding of their union and their industry. which began on March 1, were Act work and work right—still membership, of learning how • Union constitution. recommendations concerning chosen by their fellow SIU lies ahead. We can't rest on to fight for a better life. That's • Harry Lundeberg School the operation of the union in members. They come from 14 laurels until the whole job is what this conference is all of Seamanship. general, its rules, regulations major ports—Baltimore, Bos­ done." about." • Union meetings and ship­ and responsibilities. ton, Houston, Jacksonville, Mo­ Purpose Outlined Following these opening re­ board behavior. Conference Largest Ever bile, New Orleans, New York, The SIU leader summed up marks and greetings, the 250 • SIU Pension, Welfare and The conference, biggest ever Norfolk, Philadelphia, San the purpose of the conference delegates split into eight sepa­ Vacation Plans. held at the Piney Point facility, Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, in this way: rate workshops for an in- Conference working days was sponsored by the Seafarers Tampa, and Wilmington. "We are attempting to depth discussion and analysis were divided into morning Welfare, Pension and Vacation The meeting—first full-scale bridge the gap to a better life of the following subjects: workshop sessions and after­ Plans, the Harry Lundeberg educational conference spon­ for all Seafarers. We know • Labor imion history, both noon general assemblies, dur­ School of Seamanship, and the sored by the SIU—is part of that no one is going to help the SIU and the general trade ing which time delegates again Seafarers Intemationd Union— the Union's continuing effort to us in this job. We know we're union movement. went over subject matter taken Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes & Inland keep its members fully informed going to have to do it for our­ • Legal issues. up during the morning work­ Waters District. on union and industry activity. selves. • Contracts. shops. Full details on the confer­ Hall Gives Briefing "We believe we can do it • Political education. At the end of the two-week ence will be published in a spe­ SIU President Paul Hall told through the process of educa­ • Education—trade union, meeting, delegates are expected cial 32-page edition of the delegates that the meeting will tion, of having an informed vocational and academic. to come up with a number of Log. THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT by P«U1 HAU '^or the second year in a row, the Congress has been workers back to their jobs on the grounds that a strike management, would be much more likely to be F asked by the Administration to enact special leg­ in transportation imperilled the nation's health and reasonable in collective bargaining. islation directed against unions in the transportation safety. In other words, we think it cuts both ways. industry—legislation which would virtually take away In other words, management has had a silent part­ The American merchant marine is about to em­ what few remaining rights which transportation work­ ner at the bargaining table: The federal government. bark on a new course, thanks to the Merchant Marine ers have to walk off the job in the case of a labor And so management has been under no compulsion Act of 1970. But while the legislation provides new dispute. to bargain realistically, while unions have had no real ships and new programs to help the industry, we all The government already has massive machinery to hope of forcing a fair and equitable settlement out of know that, in the last analysis, the success of the deal with strikes which it feels affect the national management, since they knew that their members program depends on the ability of the maritime in­ health and safety. The existing law can be applied in would be denied the right to hit the bricks. dustry to carry commercial cargoes in competition any labor dispute—although the record makes it It's-been an unfair contest. And the Administra­ with the foreigners. abundantly clear that the "national emergency" dis­ tion's proposals for transportation strikes in no way We also know, as Assistant Secretary of Commerce putes procedure has been invoked against transporta­ improves the situation, as far as labor is concerned. Andrew E. Gibson reminded the AFL-CIO Maritime tion unions more often than against anyone else. What these proposals would do would be to make it Trades Department Executive Board last month, that Now the Administration wants to superimpose on even tougher for the union and its members in the American shippers can sour on American-flag vessels the existing legal structure a special law dealing ex­ future. if they are tied up because of a labor dispute—and clusively with unions in the transportation industry. once a shipper turns sour, it's hard to win him back The net result of this new legislation would be that e believe it would be far wiser to remove the as a customer later on. the Seafarers International Union, or any other union W national emergency" disputes provisions from So we know that methods must be found to keep involved with the nation's interlocking transportation the Taft-Hartley Act. And we naturally believe that American-flag ships moving, to keep cargo moving, network, would be denied that most important of all the new proposals from the Administration should be and to keep costs competitive. We in the SIU—^who weapons: The right of workers to withhold their serv­ rejected out of hand. got where we are today because of some of the fa­ ices until they receive fair play at the bargaining What would happen then would be this: mous strikes in years gone by—know that there are table. The free forces of the marketplace would have the times when you have no alternative but to hit the opportunity to take over, and would guide'the actions We believe that the Administration's proposal is^ bricks. But we also know that, given the state of the of both parties. the wrong remedy for solving disputes between work­ merchant marine in relation to the fleets of other na­ Management, for its part, would know that there tions, any serious work stoppages would torpedo the ers and management in the transportation industry. would be no federal government around to bail it maritime program we fought so hard to win. And we feel as strongly about this with respect to out—and so it would be forced to bargain realistically unions in air, rail or surface transportation as we do What the maritime industry needs—and other with labor. It would know that, in the last analysis, it transportation industries, too—is a mature, responsi­ ' with our own industry, maritime. would have to live with the consequence of its actions ble attitude by both labor and management at the We believe it's the wrong remedy because the dice —with the result that it would be much more likely bargaining table. are already cocked against the worker, and in favor to come to reasonable terms with labor than to risk of management, under the existing procedures. The the economic loss that accompanies a work stoppage. T^e're working toward that goal. But we don't think new proposals (which are spelled out in a story on Labor, on the other hand, would also know that ^ it's going to be achieved by the compulsion of Page 3 of this issue of the Log) only serve to tip the it had to bargain realistically.