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This Month in SIU History

January 2008

Reprinted from past issues of the Seafarers LOG. 1941 In an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on the ships owned and operated by Robin Line (Sea Shipping Company), the SIU was the winner by an overwhelming majority. Of the 210 men who were eligible to vote, 201 actually voted, with 199 voting in favor of the SIU. There was one crew member who voted against the union and one whose ballot was declared void. This election was a direct result of the contracts being negotiated by the SIU. 1950 The Atlantic and Gulf District of the Seafarers International Union became the first seamen’s organization on the East and Gulf coasts to win a company-financed welfare plan for its members in an agreement signed with nine steamship companies. Although Seafarers will not contribute to the welfare fund, the agreement calls for joint administration by a committee representing the union and the operators. Under terms of the contract, each operator will contribute into a common fund of 25 cents per day for each man employed aboard its vessels. 1962 The first agreement of its kind in the maritime industry recently assured that a supply of fresh milk we be available for every working seaman. Development of a new process that allows dairymen to superheat milk and ultra-pasteurize it so that it can be stored in cans without refrigeration has made it possible to have a supply of canned fresh milk aboard ship at all times. Use of the new canned fresh milk is designed to do away with the problem of purchasing and handling milk in different foreign ports where facilities, supplies and quality are limited. In the future, the SIU Feeding Plan will ensure that milk is available aboard all contracted ships. 1973 One of the first U.S. ships bringing American grain to the Soviet Union will sail back with Russian oil – reportedly the first Soviet oil to be imported by the United States since the end of World War II. The Overseas Aleutian, manned by members of the Seafarers International Union and now unloading grain at the Black Sea port of Odessa, will pick up 35,000 tons of No. 2 heating oil for its return voyage, Soviet maritime sources said. The oil was bought to ease an expected shortage of heating oil this winter in the American northeast.