Robert Headd Unions

Since before the ratification of the declaration of independence and the birth of our
nation as we know it industrial capitalism has been at odds with the interests of the working
class placing profit above workers' well being. For any one individual fighting to fight the
negative effects of the principles this country was founded on is a hopeless endeavor at the very
least. This is exactly why in 1768 New York tailors banded together to strike in protest against
ever shrinking wages; the first stone of a rockslide that completely altered the course of the
industrial revolution and the future of our country with the establishment of the FSJC, the frist
worker organized trade union.
Over the course of the next 60 years Unions would expand from single business to
entire cities and eventually nationally recognized joint unions formed out of any number of
regional trade unions. While this gave the lay man the power to advocate for themselves there
were many limitations in their ability to affect greater change and reach to many vocations. In an
attempt to strengthen their political pull near the end of the industrial revolution many unions
aligned themselves developing “workingmen’s party” groups though lack of organization and
conflicts in alignment with established political parties resulted in their eventual dissolution.
These parties were not without degrees of success however, as they pushed heavily for the
expansion of the working conditions allowed to union workers to other trades and inspired many
to unionize themselves, particularly mariners towards the end of the 19 century.
Seamanship has historically been among the most brutal trades. Long hours, poor living
accommodations, poor compensation and sheisty businessmen at harbor were run of the mill
for mariners prior to unionization circa 1880. Strikes in australian ports spurred much discourse
with american seaman starting a domino effect of picket lines ending mostly in the creation of
Marine Firemen, Oilers and Water Tenders Union (MFOW) in 1883 and the Sailors Union of the
Pacific (SUP) in 1886. These new organized forces were able to see massive strides made in
the attention paid to working conditions across the board and contributed to the first big
legislative change for mariners in nearly a century when the power to order corporal punishment
on board a vessel was taken from captains in 1890.
While this was a step in the right direction there was still a long way to go towards a
sustainable environment as strikes and protests would continue for decades, sparking back up
immediately after the end of World War I. Before then though there were several significant
improvements to quality of life and rights for seamen in part due to the lobbying of one Andrew
Furuseth, High ranking individual at both the SUP and International Seamen’s Union. He made
his push after the tragic loss of the Titanic in summer of 1912 revealed a host of systemic issues
persistent throughout the industry resulting in the passing of the Act to Promote the Welfare of
American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States in 1915. This single piece of
legislation proved to be a massive leap forward and provided the basis upon which many
modern Code of Federal Regulations would build regulating things such as hours a seaman can
work, rations provided and even penalties for desertion or disobeying orders.
Unfortunately with all these leaps in innovation failed to include black workers as they
slowly rose in numbers in the skilled trades. After the American Federation of Labor explicitly
excluded black workers in 1895 causing sweeping changes to developing unions including
those for seafarers. This was further exacerbated by companies intentionally hiring black
workers to cross picket lines fostering even more resentment towards them in the industry.
These sentiments remained until the founding of the Colored Marine Employees
Benevolent(CMEB) Association in 1921 which remained the only union protecting black workers
until they successfully forced their way into the National Union of the Marine Cooks and
Stewards and the eventual merger between the CMEB and the industry standard MCS.
Even the white-only unions were not without their struggles in the early 20th century as
the post World War I boom in the shipping industry created higher demand for fair
compensation and improved working conditions. Large scale, several month long, riots took
place in both 1919 and 1921 significantly shifting the opinion of both legislatures and the
industry against unions and their workers. Massive pay reductions of up to 25% swept the
industry for years until the 1934 West Coast Maritime strike where a short-lived but impactful
moment of cooperation between longshoreman unions and Mariner Unions served to finally
effect significant changes to the new status quo.
Good relations between longshoreman unions and mariner unions quickly deteriorated
as the war fell further in the rear view and the red scare took over the minds of the people,
legislatures, and employers alike. The more communist influenced longshoreman unions and
their affiliations with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) made purchase with
leadership of the Nation Maritime Union. This caused discourse with the leadership of the
Sailors Union of the Pacific (SUP) and their ties to the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and
their classic “pure and simple” ideals of unionism. Both sides alike often found themselves
fighting a battle on two fronts as many unions had a difficult time differentiating themselves from
the ever growing socialist party and subsequent paranoia.
Even through persistent push back on all fronts and even infighting between rival unions,
overall gains were made in the way unions were viewed in the end as they were able to make
ground in many areas due to the massive economic boom post war. This forward momentum
has been stalled and restarted time and again as the world moved forward to the present. Many
difficulties still persist but the overall trends of societal, legal, and union attitudes becomes more
and more widely accepted. As such the dissolution of the SUP and subsequent organization of
the Seafarers International Union with their 12+ affiliated unions create a more modern and
overall progressive landscape for the prospective Mariner.
Citation

Maritime workers and their unions-University of Washington

Labor Movement-History.com