The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 labor union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations

Congress of Industrial Organizations

The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...

 (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger in 1988, the union merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America

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 organization has an estimated 35,498 members and is the...

 in 2001.
The NMU was founded in 1936 by Joseph Curran

Joseph Curran

This article is about Joseph Curran, an American labor leader. For information about the state attorney general in Maryland, see J. Joseph Curran, Jr.Joseph Curran was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader...

, who was at the time an able seaman

Able Seaman (occupation)

An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...

 and boatswain

Boatswain

A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...

 aboard the ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 S.S. California. Although he was a member of the International Seamen's Union

International Seamen's Union

The International Seamen's Union 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 years:...

 (ISU), he was not active in union activities.

From March 1 to March 4, 1936, Curran led a strike aboard the Panama Pacific Line's S.S.