Ron George
First, it is about time all of us who use this net should post a
thank you for your administrating without which there wouldn't
be a net.
Second, sadly I believe quite a few on this net took early
retirement thinking ARA was going to drop dead right after
GMDSS was going to be mandatory and so they lost out on
the retirement benefits you, I and other wiser ones are enjoying.
Sour grapes is what motivates those against unions.
Thanks for your positive response to my post on the left wing
history of ARA. Many who were not members of the CP non the
less appreciated the contracts won by it's CP leadership.
Stan the old retiree man
-----Original Message-----
From: R George <xgeorge@xxxxxxx>
To: sparkscoffee <sparkscoffee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Oct 5, 2016 1:42 pm
Subject: [sparkscoffee] Re: The founding fathers of ARA were Communists
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?
