From the earliest moments after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the Gulf Coast states, hundreds of SIU members sprang into action, providing help in many different ways.Seafarers already in the affected areas joined forces with the U.S. Coast Guard and other government entities, providing shelter on Ready Reserve Force ships. SIU members crewed up several other RRF vessels and training ships that were sent to New Orleans, and members of the union’s Government Services Division helped mobilize the hospital ship USNS Comfort, which also was deployed for relief operations.
The SIU-crewed USNS Pollux, in reduced operating status near New Orleans, provided some of the first assistance available, well before relief agencies could reach the area (see separate story under "Heard at Headquarters" on this web site and on page 12 of the LOG).
Meanwhile, the SIU quickly established a relief fund for members, pensioners, employees and their families, as well as for members from the SIU-affiliated United Industrial Workers (UIW) and Seafarers Entertainment and Allied Trades Union (SEATU).
The union also donated use of part of its hall in Mobile, Ala. as an AFL-CIO “Workers’ Center” — one component of the federation’s disaster relief efforts.
Additionally, employees at SIU headquarters in Camp Springs, Md. and at the union’s affiliated Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education in Piney Point, Md. donated clothing, food items and toiletries immediately after the flooding in New Orleans. Altogether, they collected 11 pallets of material that was shipped to the Gulf Coast.
Due to widespread damage and disrupted communications, there is no practical way for now to completely account for the fate of each member and pensioner in the areas hit by Katrina. However, the union as of late September was unaware of any SIU fatalities related to the hurricane.
Property damage is another story. According to SIU port officials in New Orleans and Mobile, some members, pensioners and employees escaped with little or no harm to their respective homes. Others lost everything, while still others experienced substantial—but not total—loss.
The union estimates that approximately 1,300 SIU members reside in the affected areas along with nearly 600 SIU pensioners.
Two SIU halls directly were affected by the hurricane. The facility in Harvey, La. (near New Orleans) sustained roof damage and flooding, and was without power or phones for about two weeks. That hall partially reopened Sept. 13, although as this issue of the LOG went to press, shipping and registration that normally would take place at the New Orleans hall had been transferred to the Houston hall. Seafarers should check with the individual halls or visit the Heard at Headquarters feature for updates on when the New Orleans hall becomes completely operational.
At the SIU hall in Mobile, it was a tale of two buildings. The union hall reopened Sept. 3—it lost power for four days but otherwise wasn’t harmed. However, a secondary building—physically separate but still part of the union’s facilities in Mobile on Dauphin Island Parkway—sustained major flood damage. That building contains a meeting room and storage space. The facility itself is quite salvageable, but the union lost records that had been stored there.
SIU members aboard the following ships continue to assist in relief efforts: SS Wright, Equality State, Cape Knox, Cape Kennedy, Diamond State, Cape Flattery, USNS Pillilau, USNS Bob Hope, USNS Algol, USNS Altair, USNS Bellatrix, USNS Pollux, USNS Comfort and the training ships Empire State, State of Maine and M/V Sirius.
The Cape Knox and Cape Kennedy, after a harrowing experience weathering the storm at their berths along the Poland Street Wharf in New Orleans, were turned into shelters for Coast Guard personnel and other relief workers.
Several of the union’s contracted companies have been affected by Katrina. The Delta Queen Steamboat Company, which had facilities in New Orleans, continues operating its fleet but has moved its offices to New York State.
Pacific Gulf Marine, also based in the New Orleans area, moved to Houston.
Inland companies E.N. Bisso and Crescent Towing fared better, despite the latter’s offices being bumped by a ship that was displaced during the flooding.
‘Anxious to Help’
OMU John Cooper signed on aboard the Wright when that vessel was activated in Baltimore for relief operations in the Gulf.
“Everyone on board just wants to provide assistance,” he stated. “We’re delivering water, food, mattresses, generators and fuel. Everyone is anxious to help.”
Retiree Arthur Machado had to evacuate the New Orleans area but said he was grateful that he “had another place where I could go,” in Mississippi.
In New Orleans in mid-September, SIU Port Agent Steve Judd said that normally routine tasks remained anything but ordinary. Efforts to send crew members to work aboard some of the relief ships remained complicated by restricted movement and power outages.
Then there are more fundamental activities—such as eating.
“There are no grocery stores open, so you go to FEMA every day for food and water,” Judd stated. “But I’m not complaining. Whether it’s in your neighborhood or here at the hall, you do whatever you can for whoever you come across that needs help. One person can do a lot, believe me.”
With the temporary transfer of shipping to Houston, “It has been hectic at the hall,” acknowledged SIU Assistant Vice President Gulf Coast Jim McGee in mid-September. “We shipped 270-some jobs in one month. We’re doing everything we can to help the folks whose lives have been disrupted.”
Noting the overall response of the U.S. Merchant Marine to the disaster, acting U.S. Maritime Administrator John Jamian declared, “The merchant marine came through like you wouldn’t believe.”
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