For more than a dozen years, it has been very rare that a month goes by without this newspaper reporting on significant gains for SIU members, whether it’s a new ship, a better contract, improved training opportunities or some other progress.
As I’ve said many times, the consistently safe, reliable shipboard work performed by Seafarers is a foundation of every advancement we achieve.
Another key part of that foundation is political action—and that’s something no Seafarer should ever forget.
Without an ongoing strong commitment to grassroots politics, our whole industry would go down the tubes. It’s as simple as that.
I’m grateful that so many of you understand the reality and importance of that message. Your support of SPAD and your willingness to donate time to back pro-maritime, pro-worker candidates are commendable. And your support is never taken for granted.
This is an area where we cannot afford to let up. A quick look at two vital maritime laws shows why.
First the Jones Act, which requires that cargo moving from one domestic port to another be carried aboard U.S.-crewed, U.S.-flag, U.S.-built ships. It’s a sensible law that helps protect our national and economic security. Many other industrialized countries have laws that basically spell out the same requirements for their mariners and shipbuilders.
Yet, the Jones Act consistently is under attack by foreign-flag interests. We fight back against those attacks through political action —educating congressmen and senators and other officials about the importance of our nation’s freight cabotage law. The SIU and our allies have been successful in this battle, and as a result, the Jones Act currently enjoys solid support from Congress and the administration.
Another example is the U.S. Maritime Security Program, enacted in 1996. The MSP and its related Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement arguably are the only things keeping the U.S. flag flying on deep sea commercial vessels.
It took several years of lobbying to secure the original MSP, and similar efforts have put us on the verge of a 10-year reauthorization of the program. Here again, without political action—without your support along with cooperative work throughout our industry—there would be no MSP.
Those aren’t the only laws that are important to the U.S. Merchant Marine, but they illustrate why we must elect officials who understand and support our industry. And they underscore the fact that our fight never ends.
On a larger scale, our brothers and sisters throughout the trade union movement understand, as we do, that grassroots political action is our greatest resource. During the year 2000 elections, business outspent labor by 15 to 1. Then, in the 2002 off-year elections, corporations spent more than $700 million, compared to about $62 million from working families.
That gap probably won’t change anytime soon. But, by mobilizing and taking advantage of strength in numbers, the labor movement is making progress in the political arena. For instance, union households represented 26 percent of the vote in 2000, up from 19 percent in 1992. That jump is a direct result of a commitment by the AFL-CIO and its member unions to increase voter registration, education and mobilization. Support of voluntary political action funds remains an important part of that commitment.
When it comes to the elections themselves, our approach never changes. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: We support those who support the U.S. Merchant Marine, regardless of political party. Our mission is “jobs, jobs, jobs” for you. And when the elections end, we don’t take shortcuts in educating the new representatives at all levels of government about our issues and industry.
Paul Hall, our union’s second president, summed up the importance of political action with the saying “Politics is pork chops.” The message is simple but essential. By supporting SPAD and volunteering to assist pro-maritime candidates, you help preserve your jobs.
More recently, rank-and-file Seafarers came up with a new saying to deliver the same point: “SPAD—It takes a four-letter word to be heard!”
No matter how it’s phrased, the bottom line is that politics is fundamental to the SIU. And with your continued strong support, I’m confident that we’ll have no shortage of good news to report in the months and years ahead.
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