An ill-conceived proposal floated by the Defense Department to transfer ownership and operational control of the Maritime Administration?s Ready Reserve Fleet to the U.S. Navy?s Military Sealift Command, prompted a response in opposition to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
West Coast Sailors
In the wake of Union-busting assaults on worker?s rights to bargain collectively, the AFL-CIO, state labor federations and local labor councils have mobilized for a day of action and solidarity across the United States on Monday, April 4.
Governor Walker and the Republican
majorities in Wisconsin?s State Assembly and Senate laid out a plan in a so-called ?budget repair bill? to bust the state?s public employee Unions by denying their 200,000 plus members collective bargaining rights.
A report requested by President Obama and prepared by the non-partisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling confirms the Jones Act in no way prevented or hindered cleanup efforts following the disaster.
A U.S. jury convicted Somali men of piracy on the high seas, the first such verdict in an American court in 149 years, for shooting at a U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchant vessel.
The preliminary report of the so-called bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released on November 10, proposes drastic cuts to the critical economic lifelines for working people.
The U.S. Merchant Marine has been an integral factor in building a secure and wealthy nation since its birth. But, it has fallen on hard times since the 1970s due to weak government policies.
The United States Navy issued a strongly worded statement opposing Senator John McCain?s (R-Arizona) legislation to repeal the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
Matson Navigation Company has expanded its China service, but without American mariners or U.S.-flag, U.S.-built vessels.
Using the false pretext that the Jones Act is hampering the cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona introduced legislation on June 25, to repeal this critically important piece of maritime legislation that provides employment for 500,000 American workers.
Among the Union's objectives is "to support a journal which shall voice the sentiments of the seafaring class, and through its columns seek to maintain the knowledge of and interest in maritime affairs." The first issue of the West Coast Sailors, in June of 1937, noted that "Common sense, fearlessly applied, brings success to a Union."