K : -_' • April SEAFARERS LOG 1962 OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE SEAFARERS INTERNATIONAL UNION • ATLANTIC, GULF, LAKES AND INLAND WATERS DISTRICT AFL-CIO Are Realistic Maritime Policies Ahead? President's House Group Message Report Raps Implies Lopsided |iV Need To Shipping Overhaul Subsidy 1936 Act Program An Infercoasfal Body. versions for intercoastal oper­ ation by SlU-contracted Sea-Land Service gets underway at Hoboken, -Story On Page 3 NJ, shipyard with arrival of specially-built midbody to fit between bow and stern of basic T-2 tankers cut apart for insertion of new midsection. This section is for the new SS San Juan due out by September, The other two ships will follow in December. (Story on iPage 4.) FRENCH, ITALIAN MARITIME UNIONS SIGN MTD PACTS Story On Page 3 NMU Seeks Scab Role In Robin Line -Story On Page 2 SlUNA TAXI UNION Laud SlU SirSk^ Aid Sailors and Firemen's Union New York representative iJfrffve AtfUa Johannes Nielsen presents a commemorative plaque to SIU WINS TOP GAINS president Paul Hall thanking the Union for its support during a strike last May. Looking on (left) are Thedy Nielsen, bosun on the Leader Maersk, one of the struck ships, and Michael Carlin, repre­ senting the Maritime Trades Department's International Division. Seafarers and members of other IN CHICAGO BEEF MTD unions assisted the Danish strikers in winning a wage beef. (Story on Page 2.) -Story On Page 5 "~.Tv"r-';is;:': T -JI ' Pace Two 6EAFJtttl^nil too April, I98t Advance Meeting Schedule Danes Laud For West Coast SIU Ports SIU headquarters has Issued an advance schedule through Sep­ tember for the monthly Informational meetings to be held in W^st Strike Aid Coast ports for the benefit of Seafarers shipping from Wilmington, San Francisco and Seattle or who are due to return from the Far East. All Seafarers are expected to attend these meetings, in ac­ cord with a resolution adopted by the Executive Board last Decem­ From SIU ber. Meetings in Wilmington are on Monday, San Francisco on NEW YORK—The IJanish Sail­ Wednesday and Seattle on Friday, starting at 2 PM local time. ors and Firemen's Union has pre­ The schedule is as follows: sented a plaque to SIU president Paul Hall in appreciation of the Wilmington San Francisco Seattle Union's support during the Danish May 21 May 23 May 25 , seamen's strike in US ports last June 18 June 20 June 22 May. July 16 July 18 July 20 August 20 August 22 August 24 Presenting the plaque to Hall September 17 September 19 September 21 • were Johannes Nielsen, union rep­ resentative in New York, and Thedy (See page S for regular monthly meeting schednle for all SIU constitutional ports.) Pictured at ship's meeting in Brooklyn Army Base, Seafarers Nielsen, bosun on the Leader aboard Robin Trent approve SlU headquarters report on Maersk, which was one of the struck vessels picketed in New attempt by National Maritime Union to raid Robin Line York. fleet. NMU moved for representation vote as SlU prepared Struck Last April for negotiations with all contracted operators. The Danish seamen struck for 'Railway Labor Act' NMU Looms As Strikebreaker higher wages and better working conditions last April and the strike was supported by Amer­ Asked For Shipping ican maritime unions, including the SIU and its affiliates, as well WASHINGTON-rrLegislation to extend the Railway Labor NMU Tries Raid as the International Longshore­ Act to cover maritime labor disputes has been introduced in men's Association, the Maritime the House by Rep. Herbert C. Bonner (Dem.NC), chairman Trades Department and MTD port of the House Merchant Ma-"*^ councils. rine Committee. His proposal roads. After exhausting all the On Robin Line As The strike ended in May after procedures established under the the seamen voted to accept a new came at the outset of hearings act during 15 months of contract now being conducted by his com­ contract offered by shipowners. negotiations last year, the RMR mittee on a wide range of shipping was forced to take strike action The companies had attempted to problems. SlU Opens Pacts break the strike by hiring scabs against the railroads when man­ The Railway Labor Act provides but this maneuver failed. agement arbitrarily sought the NEW YORK — Acting under the standard terms of its numerous mechanisms for dealing right to eliminate jobs. agreements, the SIU this month forwarded formal 60-day After the seamen went back, the with railroad and airline labor Danish union cabled the SIU from Manning Not An Issue notice to all contracted companies that it wishes to open disputes and calls for lengthy pro­ Since manning on the tugs had Copenhagen expressing apprecia­ cedures to stall off strike action by negotiations covering its col-* tion for "your fraternal coopera­ not been an issue previously, the lective bargaining agree­ The NMU itself recognized the affected workers in these fields. strike was the only means left to tion and demonstration of sym­ Questions Proposal ments. Present one-year pacts SIU's right to-represent these ves­ pathy." deal with the unilateral attempt by expire on June 15. sels in a written agreement after SIU president Paul Hall has the railroads to do away with jobs In the midst of the SIU head­ the NLRB hold that the SIU had Wage Increase questioned the Bonner proposal and was successful in that effort. quarters action on contract nego­ the absolute right to retain its The contract granted the Danish because it fails to deal with any of Today, 15 months after the strike tiations, the National Maritime jurisdiction in the fleet. The SIU seamen an increase of about $20, the fundamental difficulties con­ and after 2V6 years of negotiation Union emerged as a potential position was also upheld in the bringing their average wage up to fronting the maritime industry. within the confines of the railroad strike-breaking agency when It courts. $145 per month. The shipowners "As can be seen from the experi­ act, management is still seeking moved for a raid on the SlU-con- In the coui-se of the dispute aris­ had originally offered a smaller ence of the railroad industry, the job-cutting action. tracted Robin Line ships. The ing out of the original Mooremac $13 increase. Railway Labor Act is no cure-all In the event the Bonner proposal NMU has petitioned the National purchase, the SIU re-established However, no settlement was for economic ills," he stated. becomes the subject of public Labor Relations Board for a vote its right to continue to represent reached concerning the union's A classic example, of the work­ hearings, the SIU has announced covering all vessels owned by Robin Line crewmembers by one protest on the hiring qf seamen ings of the Railway Labor Act is its intention to place into the rec­ Moore-McCormack, an NMU com­ of the most lopsided election vic­ in Far East ports at far below the current situation involving the ord its full position on this pany which owns the Robin Line tor!ever recorded under the union scale, a practice prevalent SIU Railway Marine Region, whose proposal and on other matters af­ vessels that have been represented auspices of the NLRB. The NMU 6mong European operators to un­ members man railroad tugboats fecting the well-being of th# by the SIU for more than 20 years. raiding attempt in 1957 failed dercut their own nationals. and ferries for seven eastern rail­ American Merchant Marine. Since no labor dispute exists in when the SIU clearly won bargain­ Robin Line, the NMU maneuver is ing rights over seven of the eight seen as clear evidence of irrespon­ vessels in dispute. sibility in seeking to create an at­ During the voting on one vessel, mosphere of disorder and contro­ even NMU members cast their SIU, African Dock Leader Hold Talks versy in maritime labor relations. ballots for the SIU in obvious pro­ test against their own union's raid­ Discussions on maritime problems of mutual interest were held at SIU headquarters ing actions. on the 13th and 17th of April with James Denis Akumu, leader of the East African Dock The NMU move for a vote at this Workers Union, of Mombasa, Kenya. time was characterized by SIU Akumu, who has been on;^ INDEX president Paul Hall as a possible visit to the United States which is affiliated with the SIU. strike-breaking attempt. He noted sponsored by the US Depart­ They have been in the US studying To Departments! that NMU president Joe Curran ment of Labor, has also had meet­ the operations of the SIU and the had picked a time for this action ings with the International Long­ ILA, including contracts, hiring The Canadian Seafarer when the SIU is entering into shoremen's Association. Accom­ procedure and pension and welfare —Page negotiations for renewal of agree­ panying Akumu on his visit to the benefits. The SIU Inland Boatmen ments with its contracted opera­ SIU was Irving J. Brown, longtime tors, including Robin Line. The Trinidad union is now enter­ —Page 10: AFL-CIO overseas representative "As a consequence he said, "a ing into negotiations covering the and newly-appointed as United A&G Deep Sea Shipping strike is always a possibility. In Alcoa foreign-flag vessels which Report —Page 6 i such an event, Curran's action cer­ Nations representative of the In­ operate between the island and tainly could only be regarded as ternational Confederation of Free Mobile. It recently won recogni­ SIU Safety Department Trade Unions. tion as bargaining agent on these —Page 12 a strike-breaking tactic." The NMU petition is in direct Friend Of Mboya vessels.