V7,1 y-i j * ^ fe3 /a-'.;-."i.'-iUJ-'.E •MS M/' «:;!a m V ,v,4-v'' '••""• mm '-'MM ;;V ;v;Sfi^ • . .• &M' .:^-' I . ^-' ,4 *^ • j I '^-7-. %••-,, ' . I . J.'-iJ.i !3l-. ^ ^ * f i ^ ^ i>J^ . h-miyM" -^ plffftiS?-*-W<p?' t-s^- •'• ^ wP R'' 'Miy.-r-,,-, /.'.•.^.?:cL^'^'' Great Lakes Coast Guard Seminar Held ®;7"C"'" See Special Sypptement SlU Boatmen Hold Conference See Page II " '';^ -m " . iM. A&C Members Approve Merger Talk ilw :%;; 7'; -v;.'''--^T-'.v'• •'45>" !?".•' v'-'^' '-^1-/'" •. ': :- srU PV^ident Paul Hall (center), who is also a vice president of the AFL-CtO. "} ^ riiS!^s©s¥pomtr dwfhfl the meet­ ing. Flanking him oh ife leftMMi®eenberg, president emeritus pi the N RetailsVVholesale andVDepahtiRiStfjr^ and on the right is Reter ^ Bommarito, president of the United Rubber, CorH, Linoleum and Plastic W. C. Tankers ; Workers of America, Both®ceertb©^ gommarito are also vice |residems^ vc-. • ^ SlU Also Scores Cleveland as Sole Test Center Obsolete Lifeboats. Drills Hit at Lakes CG Seminar Obsolete lifesaving equipment, un­ Jack Bluitt, SIU Detroit port agent told of Seamanship. manned ordinary household ladders GREAT LAKES the Log. "Under this new plan, they used for boarding ships, and the lack would have to pay expensive transporta­ Lifesaving Equipment tion and lodging costs." of proper lifeboat drills aboard Great Calling for a new concept in lifesav­ Brother Bluitt, Byron Kelley, SIU Lakes vessels were recently targeted for testing center on the Great Lakes where ing equipment aboard Lakes vessels, the Great Lakes area director for the in­ criticism by the SIU at a Great Lakes entry rated seamen could apply to up­ SIU pointed out that much of the equip­ land waters and Dave LeBarron, assist­ Coast Guard Marine Industry Seminar grade for able seaman, lifeboatman and ment is 30 to 40 years old. When a ship ant area director, attended the seminar held in Cleveland, Ohio on Mar. 2. ratings in the engine department. sinks on the Lakes, it goes down fast, The SIU also protested a Coast "People can now take the upgrading along with Bob Kalmus, vocational di­ Guard plan to make Cleveland the only exams in several different Lakes ports," rector at the Harry Lundeberg School Continued on Page 7 Tough Fight Ahead for Bill to Get New Locks & Dam 26 Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisc.) stance, at the end of last year. Congres­ However, Ronald Schrader, execu­ simple loss of time. introduced earlier this month a bill to sional supporters of a smiliar bill were tive director of the National Committee Towing companies are losing cargoes clear the way for construction of a new forced to defer action on the measure on Locks and Dam 26, an ad hoc board and income as the delays force shippers Locks and Dam 26 two miles down­ when a controversial user charge amend­ of top labor and industry officials, said to move some cargoes by alternate ment was tacked on at the last minute. that despite opposition to the bill, his forms of transportation that cost three The bill's supporters did not want to committee was "mounting an intensive times more than water carriage, the okay the imposition of tolls on the new legislative campaign to obtain authori­ most economical of all modes of trans­ Alton facility since it would set a bad zation of a replacement lock at Alton" portation. precedent that could spread to the levy­ this year. This in turn is costing shippers more stream from the old facility at Alton, ing of tolls for use of any or all of the The Locks and Dam 26 project, money to move their cargoes, and it is 111. on the Mississippi River. 200 traditionally free dams built for which is badly needed to clear up a ultimately costing the American con­ navigational purposes on America's in­ serious bottleneck at the old outmoded sumer more money to buy these prod­ No specific date has been set for land waters. facility, has been delayed for several ucts. start of Senate hearings on the bill, but In addition, when the current (95th) years by court action initiated by the The delay in the start of the new they are expected to begin in late March Congress took office, the House Public railroads and environmental groups. Locks and Dam 26 project is also cost­ or early April. Works Committee indicated they did However, the barge tie-ups at the old ing hundreds of jobs for unemployed Recent events in Congress, however, not want to take up legislation regarding facility, a situation that can only get construction workers in the St. Louis, indicate that the fight for Senator Nel­ Locks and Dam 26 until sometime next worse as the new project continues to Mo. area, who might otherwise be on- son's bill will be a tough one. For in­ fall. be delayed, mean a lot more than a the-job at the new site. tremely successful with our mergers because we planned them well and we timed them properly. With this in mind, I believe that the time is now right to begin the process Jl]© of merger with our brother unions on the West Coast—the Marine Cooks and Stewards, the Marine Firemen, Oiler and Watertenders Union and the Sailor's Union of the Pacific. However, because the West Coast unions are completely autonomous organizations, we have offered them the merger proposal individually, which means that their respective memberships would either accept or reject the merger proposal on an individual basis. By the same token, this membership would have the opportunity to accept or reject the mergers by virtue of a secret ballot. Now the question, why a merger with the West Coast? From our own point of view, a merger of any one or all of the West Coast Three Simple Events unions with our organization would immediately provide us with greater political, organizational and economic resources to do the increasingly complex job of representing the interests of our membership in all areas Made Big Difference of the maritime industry. Congress and the government. More simply, we as an organization for the betterment of American seamen will be in a Throughout the nearly 40-year history of our Union—years in which we stronger position to cope with the problems of today, tomorrow and far into made tremendous strides for the betterment of our members through strikes, the future. collective bargaining, organizing and politics—I have to single out three The merger, on the other hand, would give the West Coast unions— rather simple events that more than any one person or any one thing have organizations with good membership and good contracts but little chance made our Union the strong, unified organization it is today. for meaningful growth in their present situation—the opportunity to join I'm talking about the merger of the Atlantic distpct and Gulf district with an aggressive, expanding union with the desire and resources to make in 1940, just two years after we received our original charter from the the U.S. jmaritime industry a better, more competitive industry on a global International; the merger of the A&G district and the Great Lakes district basis, and an industry more capable of providing for the needs of its workers. in 1972, and the merger of the Inland Boatmen's Union and the A&G dis­ In other words, the merger of the MCS, SUP and MFOW with the SIU trict just last year. AGLIWD is a fine opportunity for them and a solid proposal for us through The initial merger of the Atlantic and Gulf districts I believe to be our which- the memberships of all respective unions would benefit. most important for a number of reasons, including the fact that this merger One more thing, I believe that a merger of the West Coast Unions with broke a tradition of separation among America's maritime labor unions. our organization is one step forward in a natural progression of mergers In addition, this first merger enabled us to avoid unnecessary jurisdictional among maritime unions that will inevitably lead to the day when there is disputes among ourselves, and most importantly, it enabled us both to pre­ only one union for unlicensed seamen in this country, and one union for pare for a future of rapid technological, educational and political changes licensed seamen. in the maritime industry, as well as to take these changes in stride and benefit For that matter, I believe that between now and the near future, all seg­ from them instead of being hurt by them. ments of the American labor movement will experience mergers of similar In regard to our more recent mergers with the Great Lakes district and unions with similar interests for the overall purpose of providing better repre­ the IBU with the A&G district, it is still much too soon to be able to see sentation and protection to their memberships. the benefits from a historical point of view, but I believe that these mergers Seafarers, however, should not get the impression that the merger of are working and will continue to work for this organization in much the maritime unions will take place overnight. In fact, before all the problems same way as our first merger by giving us the strength and foresight to are out of the way, it will take some time. meet the problems and challenges of the future. Regardless of the time, and for that matter regardless if any merger takes When you look at it closely, the only real problem with mergers is timing.