SEAFARERS LOG AWARDED FIRST PRIZE m GENERAL EDITORIAL EXCEt^NCE • UBS • INTERNATIONAL LABOR PRESS. OF AMERICA • OFFICIAL ORGAN OP THE SEAFARERS INTERNATIONAL UNION • ATLANTIC AND GULF DISTRICT • AFL-CIO • -y.'l: Mi SIU JOBS REACH •li THREE-YEAR PEAK -Story On Page 3 'Nobody Understands Me' ^ Ff 2 Ships In Crashes V •iii. An irresponsible, attack against every major US mari­ L, M Em ms Company employee points out damage to Bull Line \ifOSn AifCrfllOffl* C-2 Elizabeth after SIU ship was involved in colli­ time union by NMU president Jbseph Curran adds, em­ • : ft' phasis to the question of his reliability in dealing with' sion with Chinese tanker Hai Kwang off Scotland Lightship. In separate crash, Alcoa maritime union issues. The attack was front-paged in Pilgrim dbllided with Farrell Lines freighter African Star near Statue of Liberty last the last NMU "Pilot''* (See story oil Page 2;) • ' Tuesday ni^t. No one was hurt in either mishap. (Story on Page 4.) Pace Twe SEAF ARETtS LOG December 21, 1956 The Facts vs. Joe Curran The last issue of the "Pilot," official organ of the National Maritime Union, features a - -pulsory vacation plan to whl^ the (CAMU). That was until Curran mouth-foaming diatribe by Joseph Curran, president of that union. It consists of a scatter­ NMU unemployment benefit was ran into a storm of internal oppo­ tied. The SIU needed no "persuad­ sition for insisting that NMU open shot blast against the SIU, the Sailors Union, the Marine Engineers (both BME and MEBA) ing" last year or this year, to re­ its hiring hall to all comers. the Masters, Mates—in fact, against every organization of consequence in maritime with ject an. inferior and undesirable To block this uprising, he under­ the exception of the International Longshoremen's Association and Harry Bridges. The syptem. took a diversionary move, launch­ diatribe is supported by' edi-»- Instead of an unemployment ing a tub-thumping attack on SUP torials, .stories and other ma­ dole, the SIU in 1955 negotiated a President Harry Lundeberg for terial in the paper. preatDted <o tliWHSTlor^i ReflninK ihip* Waicate ihat pio- $68 increase in annual vacation signing a bulk cargo agreement. The purpose of this article pa)? for all Seafarers, plus the That led to the withdrawal of AFL is to correct a number of fiat misr health and safety program, as well unions from CAMU. as increases for cooks and stew­ Blatements of fact appearing under When the AFL and CIO merged, Curran's name, and several othel* Brief Charges SIU ards. One outcome of the SIU's Curran again preached unity... But transparent distortions, so that action is that Seafarers will soon he made no approach to member* Seafarers and other LOG readers have their own health, center in ship in the AFL-CIO Maritime New York, the first in maritime. (including NMU members) can Trades Department, the only rec­ Having gone for a big vacation keep the record straight. Isthmian Collusion ognized department in the AFL- Taking the issues as they come, and welfare boost in 1955, instead of the unemployment dote, the CIO constitution dealing with here is what the NMU presidfent In a continuation of its charge to the marine affairs. Instead he recon­ said, and what actually happened: SIU, in 1956, negotiated a 7.1 per­ NLRB of collusion between the Isthmian cent increase (as compared to stituted the CIO Maritime Com­ NMU's 6 percent), plus the logging mittee as the "AFL-CIO Maritime Steamship Co. and the SIU, the NMU has sub­ pomraittee." . The only members UNION HIRING HALLS mitted a legal brief selling limit, plus a further increase in ployment. This asreemciu, IU« vacation pay, plus payment of hos­ iof this committee were Curran The NMU president claims forlli seven objcction.s to the l.'nion cont^s further, was car­ himself, the CIO radio operators that the SIU's filing of unfair conduct of the collective pital-surgical benefits to Seafarers' ried outJiKS advantage of dependent parents. This is what and the CIO engineers, who have labor practice charges against bargaining election. since severed their relationship. h shipowner—in this case, Curran describes as "a lousy one has_ percent." On the New York waterfront, the American Coal Shipping—"is leadership of the AFL-CIO, head­ actually an attack on the foun­ ed by President George Meany, dation of all maritime unions Clipping from NMU "Pilot" reports how NMU tiled Labor NLRB ELECTIONS Board charges against-Isthmian and SIU after SIU won- elec­ was recorded as strongly support­ —the hiring hall." "If they (the SIU) win," ing an election move by the In­ The facts-in this case are to the tion In that fleet. Curran now says that filing similar charges Curran warns, "it may be nec­ ternational Brotherhood of Long­ contrary and are very simple. A against American Coal (not the NMU) is "attack on hiring essary in the future to fight shoremen. Curran, the self-ap­ considerable number of Seafarers, hall." out elections on a ship by ship pointed apostle of "unity," pro­ learning of the formation of a new basis . that will be a great dustry-wide pooled vacation not be logged in excess of ac­ moted ILA efforts to evade an elec­ shipping company which had not day for union-busters." tion and openly endorsed ILA on yet obtained ships or crews, ap­ plan. tual time off the job, appar­ • SUP pensioners get $100 ently has been a source of vast Here, apparently, lies the real fthe eve of the vote. plied for employment at the com­ concern of the NMU president— Just a few weeks ago, the Marine pany's offices. In each and every month. Disabled Seafarers personal irritation to the NMU who are unemployable' and president. Consequently, he that seamen in the employ of Engineers Beneficial Association ease, without exception, they w ere American Coal Shipping, or any came to Curran asking for his sup­ "rejected by the company without pensioners get $150 a month. accuses the SIU of signing a NMU pensioners get $65 a bargain agreement on loggings other company, might be free to port in their fight for a contract even having their credentials ex­ decide the union of their choice by with American Coal Shipping. amined. The SIU general counsel's month. "far short of what NMU had • The NMU Instituted unlimited told the employers they would secret ballot. Perhaps it is no ac­ MEBA had been with Curran office then took action to protect cident that -he recently opposed a through thick and thin for 20 Seafarers' employment rights by hospital benefits tor seamen accept... we won this fight in and maternity benefits for spite of the handicap which similar freedom of choice for New years in the CIO Maritime Com­ filing charges against American York longshoremen. mittee and predecessor organiza­ Coal Shipping, a ship operator. married men only after the the employers set for us with SIU had them for years. the aid of SIU ... we have es­ Curran's attitude pn elections is tions. But Curran's response to Several years ago, the NMU it­ not without foundation. Two very their plea for help was to declare self saw nothing wrong in filing • The NMU obtained a limit on tablished once and for all the loggings only after the SIU principle that companies may recent contests have left him un­ "the job requires more guts, brains unfair labor charges against Isth­ derstandably, jittery.. Offshore oil and honest effort than you have mian Steamship Company and won it. (More on this later.) not withhold earned pay from • On numerous occasions in re­ a seaman" (emphasis ours). workers in Louisiana employed by been willing to put in it . AGAINST THE SIU. The charges Tidelands Marine Services, Inc., Curran then announced that tho In that instance were filed after cent years, the NMU had to The facts are, as reported in the reopen negotiations on so- SEAFARERS LOCI of November 9, voted this way: - , NMU would cross MEBA picket- the SIU had already organized SIU ..53 lines. Isthmian and won an Section in called "inequities" after the that the NMU logging limit is vir­ * * * the fleet. ; SIU and SUP had obtained tually Identical with the SIU's; NMU 7 superior working rules. with one significant difference. The No Union 50 It is a tasteless and unpleasant • The NMU salvaged the re­ SIU clause on logging is written In an election two weeks ago in spectacle to, watch these antics. MARITIME CONTRACTS mains of its hiring hall by into the contract and must be en­ Philadelphia, employees of C. G. The only conclusion that can be. The NMU president cries Instituting a seniority sys­ forced. The NMU'S consists of a Willis, Inc., tug operators, voted drawn is that the NMU president shrilly that the Sailors Union tem after the SIU had estab­ letter from the operator's labor re­ this way: has proven himself an irrespon^ "scrapped" the 40 hour week lished seniority protection lations representative. SIU 69 sible, unstable element in the laboif and that SIU and SUP sign for regular seamen. NMU, after proclaiming in head­ NMU ....; 2 movement. "bargain" agreements. "Our In the long run, of course, it lines "No More Logs" finds it dif­ No Union 1 This conclusion is not surprising union has led the way" he pon­ matters little "who got there firs't," ficult to concede that loggings for in light of a long record of oppor­ These elections, incidentally, tunism which began as a ten-yeair tificates, "to decent wages, but matters more that all seamen time lost from work continue after were fleet-wide; not "ship by .shorter hours, overtime pay,, get protection and conditions.