The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scheduled to induct the late SIU President Paul Hall to its Labor Hall of Fame on Oct. 1 in Washington, D.C.According to the DOL, “The Labor Hall of Fame honors posthumously those Americans whose distinctive contributions to the field of labor have enhanced the quality of life of millions yesterday, today, and for generations to come.”
SIU President Michael Sacco will deliver the keynote remarks for Hall’s induction.
“Obviously, this is a tremendous and well-deserved honor for Paul and for the SIU,” Sacco said. “I worked with Paul for many years, and it’s safe to say he was totally committed not only to improving the lives of Seafarers, but all working families.
“It was under Paul Hall’s leadership that the SIU gained our reputation for assisting fellow trade unionists,” Sacco added. “He used to have a saying when people asked for our help: ‘We’ll be there—money, marbles and chalk.’ He literally helped thousands of working families, in organizing drives, on picket lines and however else he was needed.”
The Labor Hall of Fame honorees include 26 individuals and the rescue workers from September 11 (inducted last year as one entity). Among the members are Samuel Gompers, the first president of the American Federation of Labor; George Meany, first president of the merged AFL-CIO; Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers of America; and A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a pioneer in advancing racial equality within the labor movement
“Elevation to the Labor Hall of Fame is arrived at by a selection panel composed of the Counselor to the Secretary, the Solicitor of Labor, the Assistant Secretary for Policy and the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management,” noted the DOL. “Honorees are chosen each year, and a formal induction ceremony is conducted at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.”
The Labor Hall of Fame is located in the North Plaza of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. The most recent honorees are represented by a kiosk containing a portrait, photos and memorabilia.
Paul Hall served as the SIU’s second president. His contributions to the U.S. maritime industry and the overall labor movement were numerous and far-reaching. He died of cancer in 1980, at age 65.
Hall started shipping as a teenager in the early 1930s and later became a charter member of the SIU. He shipped mostly in the black gang as wiper and FOWT. He earned a second engineers license, but never sailed under it.
In 1957, Hall became president of the Seafarers, a post he held until his death. In the same year, he became president of the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department.
Among his proudest accomplishments was the founding of the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship in Piney Point, Md. in 1967. The main campus was renamed in Hall’s memory in 1991.
Printer Friendly Page