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In May 1937, Curran and other leaders of his nascent movement formed the
National Maritime Union. The Seamen's Defense Committee reconstituted itself as a union. It held its first convention in July, and 30,000 seamen switched their membership from the ISU to the NMU. Curran was elected president of
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Curran, believing it was time to abandon the conservative
International Seamen's Union, began to sign up members for a new, rival union. The level of organizing was so intense that hundreds of ships delayed their sailing time as seamen listened to organizers and signed union cards.
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Within a year, the NMU had more than 50,000 members, and most US shippers were under contract. Stripped of most of its membership, the ISU became almost moribund.
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strike was only part of a worldwide wave of unrest among US seamen. A series of port and shipboard strikes broke out in 1936 and 1937 in the
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agents met the ship and began an investigation into the "mutiny". Curran and other top strike leaders were fined two days' pay, fired and
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crew. Curran became a leader of the 10-week strike, eventually forming a supportive association known as the Seamen's
Defense Committee.
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strike. Speaking to the crew by telephone, Perkins agreed to arrange a grievance hearing once the ship docked at its destination in
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went on strike at the sailing time and refused to cast off the lines unless wages were increased and overtime paid.
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110:. Curran and the crew refused to leave the ship, for the owners would have simply replaced them with
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114:. The crew remained aboard and continued to do all their duties except cast off the lines. The
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was eliminated in maritime hiring, wages, living accommodations and work assignments.
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Red Seas: Ferdinand Smith and
Radical Black Sailors in the United States and Jamaica.
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Red Seas: Ferdinand Smith and
Radical Black Sailors in the United States and Jamaica,
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Hardcover reprint ed. New York: Random House, 1998. (Originally published in 1955.)
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return trip, the Panama
Pacific Line raised wages by $ 5 a month to $ 60 per month.
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157:. The line took out national advertising attacking Curran. When the ship docked,
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Seaman all along the East Coast struck to protest the treatment of the SS
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Barbanel, Josh. "Joseph Curran, 75, Founder of
National Maritime Union."
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Brotherhood of the Sea: The
Sailors' Union of the Pacific, 1885–1985.
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Brotherhood of the Sea: The
Sailors' Union of the Pacific, 1885–1985,
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Barbanel, "Joseph Curran, 75, Founder of
National Maritime Union,"
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the new organization. Elected secretary-treasurer of the union was
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But Perkins was unable to follow through on her other promises.
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and the Panama Pacific Line declared Curran and the strikers
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Part of Our Time: Some Monuments and Ruins of the Thirties.
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The Maritime Story: A Study in Labor-Management Relations.
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In 1936, Curran led a strike aboard the ocean liner SS
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1998 (1955); "Retired Union Boss Joseph Curran Dies,"
192:. In October 1936, Curran called another strike, the
343:Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1958.
41:from 1 to 4 March 1936 as the ship lay docked in
92:(ISU), he was not active in union activities.
55:Seafarers International Union of North America
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453:Maritime labor disputes in the United States
350:New York: New York University Press, 2005.
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448:Water transportation in the United States
374:"Retired Union Boss Joseph Curran Dies."
385:New York: Transaction Publishers, 1986.
194:1936 Gulf Coast maritime workers' strike
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88:since 1922. Although he had joined the
45:. The strike led to the demise of the
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148:United States Secretary of Commerce
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118:remained tied up for three days.
128:personally intervened in the SS
123:United States Secretary of Labor
423:1936 labor disputes and strikes
159:Federal Bureau of Investigation
406:at the Smithsonian Institution
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106:The strike was essentially a
438:History of the American West
428:Labor disputes in California
90:International Seamen's Union
47:International Seamen's Union
16:1936 American labor dispute
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250:15 August 1981; Kempton,
49:and the creation of the
51:National Maritime Union
443:History of Los Angeles
332:"C.I.O. Goes to Sea."
295:"C.I.O. Goes to Sea,"
214:racial discrimination
43:San Pedro, California
339:Goldberg, Joseph P.
381:Schwartz, Stephen.
433:1936 in California
376:Associated Press.
360:Kempton, Murray.
256:Associated Press,
252:Part of Our Time,
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126:Frances Perkins
76:ocean liner SS
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163:blacklisted
82:able seaman
72:aboard the
33:ocean liner
31:aboard the
417:Categories
320:References
282:Schwartz,
182:California
130:California
116:California
101:California
97:California
78:California
38:California
23:California
155:mutineers
121:Finally,
86:boatswain
206:Jamaican
186:Atlantic
36:SS
308:Horne,
180:The SS
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208:-born
70:seaman
68:was a
61:Strike
29:strike
27:was a
25:strike
334:Time.
312:2005.
297:Time,
286:1986.
223:Notes
387:ISBN
366:ISBN
352:ISBN
188:and
84:and
19:The
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21:SS
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263:^
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