Stan,
I really appreciate this type of history especially since I spent so
much of my life as an ARA member.
I was so lucky to leave AMO giving up 5 years of retirement credit but
betting that ARA was the
better union. Turns out it was the best bet I ever made.
What saddens me is to see some of our ARA brothers turn their backs on
unions now that they
reaped the rewards of those who sacrificed before them. No accounting
for ingratitude.
RG
On 10/5/2016 10:22 AM, (Redacted sender sblumen123 for DMARC) wrote:
Everyone
I joined the American Communication Association, CIO, Marine Dept., which at
the time was the only nation wide union for Marine Radio Officers, after I got off
my first ship. Joe Selly was the International President of mainly Teletype
Operators and the brothers Murray and Jack Winnocur were President and Vice
President of the R/O division. They hired unemployed Bill Steinberg who had been
an R/O on Airplanes when they were all eleminated as unnecessary.
After the cold war started and Joe McCarthy became dominate, Bill Steinberg
testified before Congress that Selly and the Winnocur brothers were all
communists which they did not deny or confirm taking the 5th Amendment. At the
next election all three lost and Steinberg became President and changed the name
to the American Radio Association (ARA). The same kind of thing happened to
many other unions except to Harry Bridge's International Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) which currently ARA is affiliated with, thank god or else there would
be no ARA.
Apparently the Radio Officer Union (ROU) started later. I remember being told that
Fred Howe, it's President then referred to ACA as 'Moscow On The Hudson' but
they did no contract negotiations, he simply demanded and got the same contracts
that ACA won, something we would call 'Free Loading'. Tsk, tsk.
Stan the Commie man a nd perhaps the oldest retiree of ACA/ARA?
