The Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP), founded on March 6, 1885 in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, is an American

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard US flag vessels. At its fourth meeting in 1885, the fledgling organization adopted the name Coast Sailor's Union and elected George Thompson its first president. Andrew Furuseth, who had joined the union on June 3, 1885 was elected to its highest office in January 1887. In 1889 he returned to sea but was reelected to the position of union secretary in 1891. It was during this term on July 29, 1891 that Furuseth merged the Coast Seamen's Union with the Steamship Sailor's Union with the new organization named the Sailors' Union of the Pacific. With the exception of a two-year period when he shipped out as a fisherman, he was secretary of the SUP until 1935. In 1908, Furuseth also became president of the

International Seamen's Union The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union. The early yea ...

and served in that office until 1938. During this period, he successfully pushed for legislative reforms that eventually became the

Seamen's Act of 1915 The Seamen's Act, formally known as Act to Promote the Welfare of American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States or Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (Act of March 4, 1915, ch. 153, 38 Stat1164, was designed to improve th ...

. SUP is an affiliate union of

Seafarers International Union of North America The Seafarers International Union or SIU is an organization of 12 autonomous labor unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard vessels flagged in the United States or Canada. Michael Sacco has been its president since 1988. The orga ...

. Headquarters are in San Francisco and the union has branch offices in

Wilmington, California Wilmington is a neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Lat ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, and

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

. SUP also has an office in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

Union executives

* George Thompson (1885-1887] * Andrew Furuseth (January 1887 – 1889) * Andrew Furuseth (January 1891 – 1935) *

Harry Lundeberg __NOTOC__ Harrald Olaf Lundeberg (March 25, 1901 – January 28, 1957) was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. Biography Lundeberg left his home in Oslo, Norway at age 14, joined the Seamen's Union of Australia in 1917 and transferr ...

(1939–1957) (Secretary/Treasurer) * Morris Weisberger (1957–1979) (President/Secretary- Treasurer) * Paul Dempster (1979–1990) (President/Secretary- Treasurer) * Gunnar Lundeberg (1990-current) (President/Secretary- Treasurer)

Notes

References

* *

Archie Green Archie Green (June 29, 1917 – March 22, 2009) was an American folklorist specializing in laborlore (defined as the special folklore of workers) and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commente ...

, ''Harry Lundeberg's Stetson & Other Nautical Treasures'' (Crockett, CA: Carquinez Press, 2006).

External links

*
Sailor's Union of the Pacific
from the Waterfront Workers History Project. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sailors' Union Of The Pacific Trade unions established in 1885 Maritime history of the United States Seafarers' trade unions Seafarers International Union of North America

Union executives

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links