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The SS ''California'' strike was a strike aboard the ocean liner from 1 March to 4 March 1936 as the ship lay docked in San Pedro, California. The strike led to the demise of the International Seamen's Union and the creation of the National Maritime Union (now part of the Seafarers International Union of North America). ==Strike== Joseph Curran was a seaman aboard the Panama Pacific ocean liner SS ''California''. He had been an able seaman and boatswain since 1922. Although he had joined the International Seamen's Union (ISU), he was not active in union activities. In 1936, Curran led a strike aboard the ocean liner SS ''California'', then docked in San Pedro, California. Curran and the crew of the Panama Pacific Line's SS ''California'' went on strike at sailing time and refused to cast off the lines unless wages were increased and overtime paid.〔Barbanel, "Joseph Curran, 75, Founder of National Maritime Union," ''New York Times,'' 15 August 1981; Kempton, ''Part of Our Time,'' 1998 (1955); "Retired Union Boss Joseph Curran Dies," ''Associated Press,'' 14 August 1981.〕〔Schwartz, ''Brotherhood of the Sea: The Sailors' Union of the Pacific, 1885-1985,'' 1986.〕 The strike was essentially a sitdown strike. Curran and the crew refused to leave the ship, for the owners would have simply replaced them with strikebreakers. The crew remained aboard and continued to do all their duties except cast off the lines. The ''California'' remained tied up for three days.〔 Finally, United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins personally intervened in the SS ''California'' strike. Speaking to the crew by telephone, Perkins agreed to arrange a grievance hearing once the ship docked at its destination in New York City, and that there would be no reprisals by the company or government against the Curran and the strikers.〔〔 During the SS ''California's'' return trip, the Panama Pacific Line raised wages by $5 a month to $60 per month.〔 But Perkins was unable to follow through on her other promises. United States Secretary of Commerce Daniel Roper and the Panama Pacific Line declared Curran and the strikers mutineers. The line took out national advertising attacking Curran. When the ship docked, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents met the ship and began an investigation into the "mutiny". Curran and other top strike leaders were fined two days' pay, fired and blacklisted. Perkins was able to keep the strikers from being prosecuted for mutiny, however.〔〔 Seaman all along the East Coast struck to protest the treatment of the SS ''California's'' crew. Curran became a leader of the 10-week strike, eventually forming a supportive association known as the Seamen's Defense Committee.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SS California strike」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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