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BREAKING NEWS: Nation to Honor U.S.-Flag Merchant Marine on May 22, National Maritime Day
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The Maritime Trades Department AFL-CIO provides workers employed in the maritime industry and its allied trades a voice in shaping national policy.
The MTD’s network of 19 port maritime councils has given maritime workers a strong grass roots presence in port and coastal cities all across the United States and Canada. Representing a wide array of workers, the councils have given the Department’s 24 affiliates a mechanism to pool their resources on a broad range of issues and projects.
GRASSROOTS ACTION
House Committee Approves the RESPECT Act! The AFL-CIO is asking all trade union activists to educate the American public and their elected officials in Washington D.C. about the RESPECT (Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers) Act. The bill, H.R. 1644, recently passed the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee by a bipartisan 26-20 vote... more... |
ON THE RADAR SCREEN
Maritime Labor Expresses Concerns About TWIC Maritime labor continues to express strong reservations about aspects of the new Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) program. While acknowledging that everyone has a vital interest in enhancing America’s maritime security, the unions believe that a poorly designed and implemented program will place onerous burdens on the industry without providing any real benefits. Maritime unions are most concerned about redundancies in the vetting process and an unnecessary duplication of documents. Some requirements about which maritime labor has expressed concerns already have proven to be unworkable in the time frame given. For example, the federal government has already been forced to push back the starting date on a provision requiring card readers be placed on most vessels.
MSC Hospital Ship Embarks on Four-Month Humanitarian Mission 05/16/08 The USNS Mercy, a hospital ship in the Military Sealift Command (MSC) fleet, recently embarked on a four-month humanitarian mission across Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific... (more...)Shipping CEO Urges MSP Be Fully Funded, Permanently Extended 05/14/08 A major industry figure recently said that tederal programs like the Maritime Security Program are essential if the United States is to maintain a viable sealift capability and domestic maritime industry... (more...)DHS Changes Final Compliance Date for TWIC 05/11/08 The Department of Homeland Security has pushed back the final compliance date for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential by seven months, from September of this year to April 15, 2009... (more...)ILA President Named to ITF Executive Council 05/07/08 ILA President and MTD Executive Board Member Richard P. Hughes has been named to the executive council of the International Transport Workers’ Federation... (more...)Labor Works at the Federal and State Levels for Paid Family and Medical Leave 05/12/08 Two recent events have highlighted a bill that organized labor is supporting to provide paid family and medical leave for millions of American workers... (more...)Oklahoma Is Okay: AFSCME Wins Historic First Contracts 05/14/08 An Oklahoma state law championed by AFSCME continues to pay dividends as 700 workers of the cities of Enid and Lawton won their first union contracts... (more...)MTD Board Member Highlights Shipyard Safety Issues 05/05/08 New regulations proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were the subject of a recent column by Dewey Garland, an MTD board member who is director of railroad and shipyard workers for the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association... (more...)Southern California PMC Supports ‘Hollywood to the Docks’ 05/13/08 Activists associated with the Port Maritime Council of Southern California participated in a three-day event last month dedicated to showing solidarity with the 350,000 California union members who will be negotiating contracts this year... (more...) |
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MARITIME TRADES DEPARTMENT AFL-CIO
815 SIXTEENTH STREET N.W. WASHINGTON, DC 20006-4101
homeport@maritimetrades.org | (202) 628-6300
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Copyright 2008 MARITIME TRADES DEPARTMENT |