Editor’s note: The Seafarers LOG reserves the right to edit letters for grammar as well as space provisions without changing the writer’s intent. The LOG welcomes letters from members, pensioners, their families and shipmates and will publish them on a timely basis.Memories from
1943 Voyage
The following story (and many others) was told to me by my late husband, Milton Robinson, who was an SIU seaman. He joined the SIU in 1941 and retired in 1969. He was very proud of the SIU because he was “in” on the early days. Of course, during that time, many labor unions were formed for the working men and women of the day.
Shipwrecked
I signed on to the Liberty ship SS James Withycombe as boatswain in Mobile, Ala. on Nov. 16, 1943 along with other guys making up the crew from Mobile. She was loaded with cargo.We sailed south from Mobile toward the Panama Canal en route to a port in the Far East. Approaching the Canal was a stretch of seas marked “shallow” and “not navigable.” We became too close to these waters during a terrible storm and unfortunately were grounded. We were to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The order came: “Abandon ship!” The Coast Guard was standing by very shortly and threw us ropes, buoys and other equipment for the rescue. We could take nothing with us except the clothes on our backs.
The last to leave the ship were the captain, first mate and me. There was no thought of anything but getting off the dangerous vessel that was being battered by the wind against the rocks and the treacherous seas.
The Coast Guard let us off at the nearest island that was occupied by a U.S. Navy base, and they had a clothing store there that furnished clothes for the Navy personnel. So, our “wardrobes” consisted of Navy outfits in various sizes and ranks. We had quite a hilarious time or two when we would be mistaken for Navy officers and get saluted.
Later we were flown back to Tampa by the steamship company, paid off and returned to our home port of Mobile. There, we registered at the SIU hall and sailed on another trip out.
There was never a time in my life that was fearful of the sea, or regretted my service as a merchant mariner. In fact, even during times of war, I still loved the open seas. The foreign countries and the many interesting people I met were unforgettable.
As told by Milton Robinson to his wife of 64 years,
Doris Robinson
Mobile, Alabama
SIU President’s Column
Hits Mark
Thank you for the wonderful, straightforward article on the condition of America and outsourcing (President’s column, April 2007 issue).
After seven years as a reservations agent in a call center specializing in the hospitality industry, the reservations department where I worked was let go due to the outsourcing of our jobs to New Brunswick, Canada. The database department was outsourced to India. As a result, approximately 120 American jobs are gone. The company started to push for outsourcing about five years ago and sent other clients up to Canada for reservations. At that time there were no layoffs but still the jobs are sitting in Canada.
We were given a 60-day notice. We were continually being thanked for the great job we had done—in writing and with a catered lunch—and were even told we were welcome to attend the annual employee appreciation party where the management arranging the outsourcing (and so proud of the job we were doing) attended. We endured people from India wandering around the office while employees were told to teach them their jobs.
“Morally bankrupt” is such an appropriate term in describing outsourcing.
Meanwhile, the replacements from India just weren’t “getting it” and still needed to be trained. Some database management personnel stayed behind and some of the employees scheduled to be laid off March 9 were asked to stay and help finish the training. It’s one thing when you are told that you must train a replacement and you do it because you don’t want to be let go without that severance package. It’s another thing to smile and go out to lunch with your replacement while they’re stealing your job.
The article mentioned America West and U.S. Airways. My concern is this: Why did they really bring reservations back to the U.S.? If it’s the language barrier, what is to prevent management from considering Canada in the future? It’s still cheap labor but now you have people who speak the English language and can be understood.
Where do we go from here? Companies are importing foreign labor illegally and American jobs are being exported.
I boycott American-based companies that outsource their reservations/customer service departments. The conflict with American-based hotels is that they do employ American workers—union and non-union.
All Americans owe a debt to all true, strong and upstanding union members.
Fran Codispoti
Scottsdale, Arizona
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