Seafarers Log
Frank Pecquex, retired executive secretary- treasurer of the Maritime Trades Department (MTD) and former SIU legislative director, passed away Feb. 15 in northern Virginia, following a decadeslong battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 75 years old. Frank Pecquex addresses delegates and guests at the 2009 MTD…
Seafarers Log
Former U.S. Congressman Ernest Istook, a staunch defender of the maritime industry, recently penned an editorial in which he advocated for the importance of domestic shipbuilding and the U.S.-flag fleet. Istook, a Republican from Oklahoma, began by writing, “Three fleets of ships are vital to America’s national and economic security.…
Seafarers Log
SIU members in Hawaii continued the union’s long tradition of helping out in the community by assisting with the “Labor of Love” project to benefit a local elementary school. On Jan. 25, SIU personnel were among the hundreds of volunteers from unions and other groups that pitched in to help…
Seafarers Log
The advantages of quitting smoking are well known, but quitting is difficult. If you are thinking of quitting, the Seafarers Health and Benefits Plan (SHBP) has a benefit to help you. The Plan offers tobacco cessation benefits, in partnership with CIGNA, to assist you in your effort to stop smoking…
Seafarers Log
Seafarers continue to answer the call from McMurdo Station in Antarctica every year, and Operation Deep Freeze 2020 proved to be no exception. Three SIU-crewed ships made the annual journey, aided by the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star. The first vessel to arrive was the containership MV Ocean Giant,…
Seafarers Log
Ongoing Relief Efforts As our relief efforts for Puerto Rico continue, I thank every individual and every organization that has stepped up. While the earthquake-induced damage in the territory is extensive, so too are the collective responses of labor and management. We’re committed to helping, as much as possible for…
Seafarers Log
Last year, the percentage of wage and salary workers who were members of unions in the United States – the union membership rate – was 10.3 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point from 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Jan. 22 in its 2019 Union Members Summary.…
Seafarers Log
An international team of maritime heavyweights recently travelled to Australia and urged the government to save its shipping industry through sound, time-tested policy. SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel was one of six panelists who testified Feb. 6 before the Australian Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. Heindel also…
Seafarers Log
Trumka: ‘A Win for Workers Everywhere’ AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called it “the most significant step Congress has taken to strengthen labor laws in the United States in 85 years and a win for workers everywhere.” The U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 6 passed the Protecting the Right to…
Seafarers Log
The SIU is mourning the passing of retired Port Agent Ed Kelly, who died of natural causes Feb. 3 in Houston. He was 78. Kelly, who came from a long line of Seafarers (including his father and five uncles, one of whom was a charter member), began working for the…