The International Labor Organization, overwhelmingly adopted a comprehensive new labor standard for the world?s maritime sector.
The prospect of Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), operating six United States seaports has sparked outrage across the country and strong bipartisan opposition in both houses of Congress.
In one of the worst injury incidents aboard an SUP-contracted ship in recent memory, the Matsonia on the 19th of December, took a wave over the bow while four sailors and the Chief Mate were working there to secure a hatch. Miraculously, none were swept over the side, and though all sustained serious injuries they remain in stable condition.
Legislators from both houses of Congress?and political parties?are turning up the heat on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for its now infamous $236 million contract with Carnival Cruise Lines to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Elections of Officers and Constitutional Amendments Referendum
December 2005-January 2006
Confirming the Sailors?Union?s opposition to a provision in the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005 (H.R. 889) that would allow U.S.-flag shipowners on international voyages to employ foreign nationals as maintenance and repair ?riding gangs,? the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security have issued strongly worded position papers also in opposition to this House of Representatives passed legislation.
Legislation that could decimate the American workforce in U.S.-flag ships in the international trades has pitted most of maritime labor against a coalition of avaricious shipowners.
Katrina, President Bush suspended the Jones Act on September 1, to allow foreign-built, foreign-flagged and foreign-crewed tankers to carry cargo between American ports to ?help distribute oil and gasoline where it is needed.?
The membership of the Sailors? Union gained additional work when the Maritime Administration on July 28, announced new contracts for vessels in the government?s Ready Reserve Force (RRF) fleet.
Resolving an issue that has haunted sailors aboard its ships for over a year, American President Lines, Ltd. notified its contracted seagoing Unions on July 13 that effective October 1, 2005, it would again be operating the APL U.S.-flag fleet directly through an affiliated company, APL Marine Services, Ltd.