Reprinted from past issues of the Seafarers LOG.1946
The membership voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that authorized the election of a committee to investigate the possibilities and advisability of establishing an upgrading school in the port of New Orleans. The membership felt very strongly that the union should establish and operate its own training schools rather than have schools controlled and operated by the government.
1960
During the next two weeks the combined benefits paid out to Seafarers and their families under the Welfare and Vacation Plans will pass the $20 million mark. As of December 18, 1959, the total benefits amount to $19,822,218.45. Of this, more than $7 million represents welfare benefit items with the remaining $12,750,000 coming under the Vacation Plan.
The Welfare Plan started functioning in July 1950 and the Vacation Plan in February 1952. In addition, the latest formal report showed total assets of the two plans now exceeding $8,200,000, of which $5,200,000 is invested in government bonds and top grade stocks.
1994
Within hours after an emergency call went out that an oil barge had run aground and was leaking, Seafarers were stringing containment booms and crewing tugboats and skimmers to sweep the petroleum before it reached the beaches of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Around 4 a.m. on January 7, the barge Morris J. Berman broke loose from its line to the tugboat Emily S. and drifted onto a coral reef approximately 300 yards from the beaches that serve some of San Juan’s best-known hotels. The barge was loaded with 1.54 million gallons of heavy number 6 bunker oil. Several of the barge’s holds ripped open, sending its contents toward the shore.
Among the first people called out to handle the crisis were Seafarers working for Crowley Maritime. SIU members sprang into action by deploying containment booms around environmentally sensitive areas.
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