Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-California), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, sent a letter dated December 2, to President-elect Donald Trump highlighting the importance of the Jones Act.
Like it or not, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the nation’s 45th president on January 20. With the Republicans retaining control of the Senate and the House of Representatives and now gaining the White House, the road ahead for organized labor will be challenging.
World-wide container volumes are on track for zero growth this year, which would mark the sector’s worst performance since the 2009 economic crisis and a likely catalyst for further bankruptcies and possible shipping-industry consolidation.
SUP-contracted Matson Navigation Company that it had signed an agreement with San Diego’s General Dynamics NASSCO to build two new combined container and roll-on/roll-off (Con-Ro) vessels for its Hawai’i fleet.
The platform adopted by the Republican Party at its convention in Cleveland calls for gutting the Jones Act which requires that vessels trading between American port be U.S.-built, U.S.-flag and crewed by American mariners. If Trump is elected and his platform is enacted, American seafarers will be on the beach permanently.
Speaking in Brussels, Belgium, on July 13, before negotiators involved in crafting the U.S.-European Union (E.U.) TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade pact, the London-based International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) stated forcefully that cabotage laws should not be included.
The latest assault on the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) was thwarted on June 8, when an amendment to the Puerto Rico relief bill to exempt the U.S. commonwealth from the Act was ruled “out-of-order” in the House of Representatives Rules Committee.
The Sailors’ Union of the Pacific overwhelmingly endorsed a true champion of labor and the U.S. Merchant Marine for the open United States Senate seat in California – Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
On April 20, the SUP, MFOW, SIU, MEBA, MM&P and AMO submitted testimony to the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft and Maritime Administrator Paul Jaenichen stressed the critical need for the Jones Act to protect our economic and national security.