Shannon J. Wall
Encyclopedia
Shannon J. Wall was a merchant seaman
and an American
labor
leader. He was president of the National Maritime Union
(or NMU, now part of the Seafarers International Union of North America
) from 1973 to 1990. His father and mother ran a small dry cleaning
company.
He joined the United States Merchant Marine
s and became a merchant seaman. He joined the NMU shortly thereafter. When the Merchant Marine was incorporated into the U.S. armed forces during World War II
, he became a boatswain
and served in the Pacific
on both freight and troop carriers.
In 1951, he was appointed a staff representative (or "port patrolman") for a union local in San Francisco, California
, roaming the port and talking to workers to ensure the union's contract was being honored. He became a staff representative in San Pedro, California
in 1954. As he rose within the union's ranks, he moved to New Jersey
to represent the union in East Coast shipping matters.
Wall was elected the national union's vice president in 1958, and served three two-year terms. In 1964, he was elected the national union's secretary-treasurer.
had been accused of financial improprieties. Wall was formally elected president on June 12, 1973.
During Wall's presidency, the NMU shed nearly half its membership. The increasing use of flags of convenience cut deeply into the number of American merchant seamen. The use of much larger ships (reducing the number of transports needed to move the same amount of goods) and technological innovation (reducing the number of seamen needed to man a ship) also led to significant reductions in eligible members. Wall was a strong proponent of mergers between various maritime unions, and the organizing of an international union to cover all maritime workers.
Throughout the 1970s, Wall was a strong voice in the debate over national energy policy. He pushed for at least 20 percent of imported oil to be carried on ships flying the American flag, lobbied against the sale of Alaskan oil to Japan, and demanded that liquefied natural gas be carried on ships and not pipelines from Alaska to continental U.S. ports.
In 1975, a dissident NMU member was awarded $333,500 damages in suit filed against Curran, Wall and another NMU officer. The suit alleged that Wall and the others had maliciously prosecuted the member after he had criticized the NMU leadership.
In 1978, Wall won a new contract with Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shippers which hiked wages 32 percent over a three-year period.
Although Wall had been an early endorser of Jimmy Carter
as president, his union broke with the AFL-CIO to endorse Ronald Reagan
.
Wall was re-elected for a fourth term as president in 1983 after a bitterly contested campaign. Wall received 9,958 votes and his opponent, Kirby-Smith McDowell, had 4,140 votes. Although no investigation by the United States Department of Labor
was undertaken, Senator William V. Roth Jr. (R-Delaware
) argued that significant violations of federal labor law had taken place in the election.
The merger did not last. MEBA members charged that the merger referendum was rigged by MEBA president by C.E. "Gene" DeFries. The accusations were so serious that the United States Department of Justice
began an investigation. Union members were even more outraged when they learned DeFries and five other union officers paid themselves more than $2 million in severance payments.
NMU disaffiliated from the Marine Engineers in 1993. Louis Parise was elected the newly independent union's president. In 1999, NMU became an autonomous affiliate of the Seafarers International Union of North America, and 2001 fully merged with that union.
In 1987, Wall and others sued the federal government to win designation as veterans for merchant seamen who served from December 7, 1941 to December 15, 1945. A federal district court, ruling in Schumacher v. Aldridge, 665 F. Supp. 41
(1987), agreed.
Even after his retirement, Wall continued to press for legislative recognition of the contributions of merchant seamen during World War II. On October 14, 1998, President Bill Clinton
signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-258), which extended to December 31, 1946, the cut-off under which merchant marines would still be considered veterans of World War II (making the date the same as for other branches of the military).
Wall also won a legislative battle to have the United States collect federal taxes on foreign-flagged cruise ship companies. The law was changed by Congress in 1986 to give the Internal Revenue Service
the authority to collect the taxes.
In February 1991, Wall became president of a new group, the International Organization of Professional Seamen. Wall formed the group to organize workers aboard U.S.-owned vessels flying under a foreign flag of convenience
. However, the Seafarers International Union and International Longshoremen's Association
both vehemently opposed the group, as its jurisdiction would conflict with their own. The collapse of the unionization effort led Wall to retire from union life.
Wall died of natural causes at his home in Sequim, Washington
on February 2, 2007. Wall and his wife, Lucy, had two sons and a daughter.
For many years, he was the chair of the AFL-CIO
's Maritime Committee, which acts as a lobbying organization for most AFL-CIO-affiliated maritime unions.
In 1982, Republican Party
chairman Richard Richards appointed Wall to a labor advisory committee aimed at building Republican Party ties to union members.
In 1986, President Reagan appointed Wall was appointed to the President's Commission on Merchant Marine and Defense. As part of the commission, he helped write four reports which heavily criticized the reduction in the size of the U.S. merchant navy and advocated for wide-ranging changes in U.S. maritime and defense law. Reagan also appointed Wall to the President's Commission of White House Fellowships.
Wall was also a member of the board of directors of the American Merchant Marine Library Association
and a member of the advisory board of the National Maritime Historical Society.
The same year, the New York State AFL-CIO awarded Wall its Labor Recognition Award for his service in building the labor movement.
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
and an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
labor
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...
leader. He was president of the National Maritime Union
National Maritime Union
The National Maritime Union was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in July 1937...
(or NMU, now part of 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...
) from 1973 to 1990. His father and mother ran a small dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
company.
He joined the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
s and became a merchant seaman. He joined the NMU shortly thereafter. When the Merchant Marine was incorporated into the U.S. armed forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he became a 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...
and served in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
on both freight and troop carriers.
In 1951, he was appointed a staff representative (or "port patrolman") for a union local in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, roaming the port and talking to workers to ensure the union's contract was being honored. He became a staff representative in San Pedro, California
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...
in 1954. As he rose within the union's ranks, he moved to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
to represent the union in East Coast shipping matters.
Wall was elected the national union's vice president in 1958, and served three two-year terms. In 1964, he was elected the national union's secretary-treasurer.
Presidency of NMU
Wall was elected interim president of the NMU on March 5, 1973. He was only the second president in the union's history. Incumbent president Joseph CurranJoseph 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...
had been accused of financial improprieties. Wall was formally elected president on June 12, 1973.
During Wall's presidency, the NMU shed nearly half its membership. The increasing use of flags of convenience cut deeply into the number of American merchant seamen. The use of much larger ships (reducing the number of transports needed to move the same amount of goods) and technological innovation (reducing the number of seamen needed to man a ship) also led to significant reductions in eligible members. Wall was a strong proponent of mergers between various maritime unions, and the organizing of an international union to cover all maritime workers.
Throughout the 1970s, Wall was a strong voice in the debate over national energy policy. He pushed for at least 20 percent of imported oil to be carried on ships flying the American flag, lobbied against the sale of Alaskan oil to Japan, and demanded that liquefied natural gas be carried on ships and not pipelines from Alaska to continental U.S. ports.
In 1975, a dissident NMU member was awarded $333,500 damages in suit filed against Curran, Wall and another NMU officer. The suit alleged that Wall and the others had maliciously prosecuted the member after he had criticized the NMU leadership.
In 1978, Wall won a new contract with Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shippers which hiked wages 32 percent over a three-year period.
Although Wall had been an early endorser of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
as president, his union broke with the AFL-CIO to endorse Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
.
Wall was re-elected for a fourth term as president in 1983 after a bitterly contested campaign. Wall received 9,958 votes and his opponent, Kirby-Smith McDowell, had 4,140 votes. Although no investigation by the United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
was undertaken, Senator William V. Roth Jr. (R-Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
) argued that significant violations of federal labor law had taken place in the election.
Mergers
In 1988, Wall helped craft a merger between the NMU and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association. After the merger, Wall became chair of the unlicensed seamen's division of District 1, and an MEBA executive vice president. At the time of the merger, NMU had 30,000 members—which included about 14,000 members working in commissaries, dining facilities and other units in U.S. naval military bases overseas.The merger did not last. MEBA members charged that the merger referendum was rigged by MEBA president by C.E. "Gene" DeFries. The accusations were so serious that the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
began an investigation. Union members were even more outraged when they learned DeFries and five other union officers paid themselves more than $2 million in severance payments.
NMU disaffiliated from the Marine Engineers in 1993. Louis Parise was elected the newly independent union's president. In 1999, NMU became an autonomous affiliate of the Seafarers International Union of North America, and 2001 fully merged with that union.
Legal and legislative achievement
Roughly 250,000 merchant seamen served (many under combat conditions) during World War II. The Merchant Marine service suffered the highest casualty rate of any service during the war. However, they were not recognized as military veterans and were not able to obtain veteran's benefits or health care.In 1987, Wall and others sued the federal government to win designation as veterans for merchant seamen who served from December 7, 1941 to December 15, 1945. A federal district court, ruling in Schumacher v. Aldridge, 665 F. Supp. 41
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1987), agreed.
Even after his retirement, Wall continued to press for legislative recognition of the contributions of merchant seamen during World War II. On October 14, 1998, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-258), which extended to December 31, 1946, the cut-off under which merchant marines would still be considered veterans of World War II (making the date the same as for other branches of the military).
Wall also won a legislative battle to have the United States collect federal taxes on foreign-flagged cruise ship companies. The law was changed by Congress in 1986 to give the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
the authority to collect the taxes.
Retirement and death
Wall retired from the merged MEBA-NMU union in 1990.In February 1991, Wall became president of a new group, the International Organization of Professional Seamen. Wall formed the group to organize workers aboard U.S.-owned vessels flying under a foreign flag of convenience
Flag of convenience
The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. Ships are registered under flags of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the...
. However, the Seafarers International Union and International Longshoremen's Association
International Longshoremen's Association
The International Longshoremen's Association is a labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways...
both vehemently opposed the group, as its jurisdiction would conflict with their own. The collapse of the unionization effort led Wall to retire from union life.
Wall died of natural causes at his home in Sequim, Washington
Sequim, Washington
Sequim is a city in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The 2010 US Census counted a population of 6,606. Sequim is located along the Dungeness River near the base of the Olympic Mountains...
on February 2, 2007. Wall and his wife, Lucy, had two sons and a daughter.
Other roles
During his long career, Wall served on several boards and commissions.For many years, he was the chair of the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
's Maritime Committee, which acts as a lobbying organization for most AFL-CIO-affiliated maritime unions.
In 1982, Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
chairman Richard Richards appointed Wall to a labor advisory committee aimed at building Republican Party ties to union members.
In 1986, President Reagan appointed Wall was appointed to the President's Commission on Merchant Marine and Defense. As part of the commission, he helped write four reports which heavily criticized the reduction in the size of the U.S. merchant navy and advocated for wide-ranging changes in U.S. maritime and defense law. Reagan also appointed Wall to the President's Commission of White House Fellowships.
Wall was also a member of the board of directors of the American Merchant Marine Library Association
American Merchant Marine Library Association
The American Merchant Marine Library Association is an organization dedicated to placing a library on every United States Merchant Marine ship.- External links :*...
and a member of the advisory board of the National Maritime Historical Society.
Honors
In 1987, Wall received the Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award from the United Seamen's Service, a prestigious nonprofit association which provides assistance to American seamen in foreign ports.The same year, the New York State AFL-CIO awarded Wall its Labor Recognition Award for his service in building the labor movement.