Seafarers International Union of North America facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
SIU

Founded	October 14, 1938 (1938-10-14)
Headquarters	Camp Springs, Maryland
Location	United States
Members	35,498 (2005)
Key people	Michael Sacco, president

Seafarers International Union is the largest union in North America representing merchant mariners.

Seafarers International Union staffs union halls in 20 seaports, including facilities in Guam and Puerto Rico, according to the SIU website.

This watch bob references the Seafarers Log, SIU's official organ. The Log is published monthly by Seafarers International Union, Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters District/NMU, AFL–CIO.

The Seafarers International Union (SIU) is a group of 12 independent labor unions. These unions represent people who work on ships, like sailors, fishermen, and boatmen. These ships usually fly the flags of the United States or Canada.

Since 1988, Michael Sacco has been the president of the SIU. This organization has about 35,498 members. It is the biggest group for maritime workers in the United States. The union was started on October 14, 1938.

The SIU was formed to protect jobs for sailors. It grew from a group called the Sailors' Union of the Pacific. This happened with help from the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Today, the SIU helps sailors and boatmen on ships that fly the U.S. flag. These ships travel in deep oceans, the Great Lakes, and rivers. Members work in different parts of a ship, like the deck, kitchen (steward), and engine rooms.

SIU members work on many kinds of vessels. These include military support ships, commercial trade ships, tugboats, passenger ships, and barges. Military support ships are very important for jobs. The Military Sealift Command (MSC) operates about 110 non-combat ships. These ships help U.S. forces all over the world.

Being an SIU member means you can get healthcare, retirement plans, and education. The union has its own school, the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education. It is located in Piney Point, Maryland.

This training center started in Brooklyn, New York. It is named after Paul Hall, a past SIU president. The school opened in 1967. It has trained more than 100,000 sailors.

The SIU is very active in politics. Its main goal is to keep workplaces safe for people on ships. They also make sure their members get excellent training.

The History of the SIU: How It Started

The Seafarers International Union began on October 14, 1938. This was a challenging time. The world was in the middle of the Great Depression, a huge economic slowdown.

But the SIU's story goes back even further, to 1892. That year, leaders from different seamen's unions met in Chicago. This meeting led to a group of maritime unions called the International Seamen's Union (ISU). It was supported by the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

The SIU sees its beginning as rising from the "wreckage" of the ISU. The ISU's membership dropped a lot after World War I. By the mid-1930s, it had fewer than 3,000 members. In 1937, the ISU lost 30,000 seamen to a new union. This new union was the National Maritime Union (NMU). This event showed the end for the ISU.

The AFL, a major group of labor unions, knew the ISU was failing. So, the AFL decided to replace it. They gave a special permission to the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP) to start the new Seafarers International Union.

Harry Lundeberg, a SUP officer and sailor from Norway, became the first president of the SIU. The SUP remained its own group within the SIU for many years.

The AFL formed the SIU for two main reasons. First, it helped protect seafaring jobs. Second, it was a way to push back against a growing political influence in the rival NMU. The NMU and SIU were strong competitors for jobs. They finally joined together in 2001.

Key Leaders and Growth of the SIU

During World War II, the SIU had fewer members than the National Maritime Union. Then, Paul Hall started organizing sailors on the East Coast and Gulf areas. By 1948, many new members joined. This helped Hall become the SIU vice president.

This growth helped the SIU become stronger than the NMU. The NMU had become weaker after removing some of its members. Also, when Lundeberg died in 1957, it ended a long power struggle between him and Hall.

Paul Hall then became the SIU president. Later that year, he also became president of the AFL–CIO Maritime Trades Department. When Hall took over the Maritime Trades Department, it was a small group. It had only six small unions.

Hall worked hard and made it a powerful force in the labor movement. When he died, the Maritime Trades Department included 43 national and international unions. These unions represented almost 8 million American workers.

In 1967, Hall started the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship. This school is in Piney Point, Maryland. It was created to give young people a chance for a career at sea.

Since then, the school has become one of the best maritime training schools. Thousands of SIU members have improved their skills there. The Harry Lundeberg School has also helped many young people from tough backgrounds find jobs.

In the 1970s, the SIU grew even stronger. It joined with another union, the National Union of Marine Cooks and Stewards (NUMCS). Paul Hall passed away in 1980 after an eight-month battle with cancer.

Presidents of the SIU

• Harry Lundeberg (1938–1957)
• Paul Hall (1957–1980)
• Frank Drozak (1980–1988)
• Michael Sacco (1988–current)

Unions That Are Part of the SIU

In 2005, a report from The Department of Labor showed that the SIU had 13 affiliated unions. The total number of members was 35,498. Here is some information about these unions:

Unions No Longer Part of SIU

Some unions used to be part of the SIU but are no longer affiliated:

• Seafarers' Professional Security Officers Association (ended in 2004).
• Seafarers AFL–CIO Local Union 5 Chauffeurs and Industrial Workers (ended in 2000).
• Seafarers AFL–CIO Local Union 300 United Industrial Workers - Midwest (ended in 2000).
• Seafarers AFL–CIO Local Union Marine Staff Officers Pacific District (ended in 2002).