Left to right: John Radcliffe, ARA National Council Member, Ed Steinberg, ARA General Counsel, Floyd Hepting, ARA National Council Member, Carl Young, ARA Secretary-Treasurer, Richard Bragg, ARA Vice President. Photo by Tom Price.

The American Radio Assn. has joined the ILWU as an affiliate and several of its members attended the December IEB meeting. Known in the past as radio officers or radio operators (ROs), they are now skilled Electronics Officers or Master Radio Electronics Officers aboard ships, whose duties have been greatly expanded since the days of Morse code and spark-operated transmitters.

The ARA and ILWU share a history of maritime solidarity, most recently in the 2002 longshore lockout, when ARA members were pulled from ships and walked ILWU lines, and in 1996, when longshore Local 19 and other locals supported the ARA in a dispute with APL. ARA affiliation with the ILWU became official Sept. 8. Like the Inlandboatmen’s Union affiliation, the ARA will retain its national officers and internal structure, but on the International Executive Board it will be represented by the Northern California members.

Their work includes the traditional RO communications duties aboard ships of sending and receiving messages, plus a whole new range of responsibilities as the shipping world embraces technology and the information age.

“On the bridge everything is now tied together by computers and computer networks,” ARA Secretary-Treasurer Carl Young said. “Global Positioning Systems, the radar systems, autopilot and even the steering is tied in together electronically. We keep all these systems working together efficiently. The bridge officers need all the information provided by the combined data from multiple systems to navigate the ship safely.”

ARA members’ work is a vital part of maritime safety as they operate and repair safety and other electronic equipment aboard ship. They hold RO licenses from the Coast Guard and a number of FCC licenses for operations and maintenance of critical communications systems as well as other industrial certifications for computers and networking, ship security officer, etc. While other ship’s officers can operate certain communications equipment on a limited basis, the knowledge and licensed certifications of the RO is vastly more detailed and they may be called on to handle distress communications and emergency repairs of a wide variety of critical communications and safety systems.

But despite the obvious need to have trained electronics technicians aboard ships, the steamship companies would like to cut corners in the interest of profit.
“They’d like to break the union and parcel out our jurisdiction to other crewmembers and/or to shore side vendors if possible,” ARA General Counsel Ed Steinberg said. “Essentially, they would like to break the back of a militant union.”

As a sea-going officers’ union, the 125 ARA members represent an extension of ILWU solidarity onto the high seas.
“Bringing all the maritime unions together has always been an idea the ARA has supported,” Steinberg said. “Philosophically we’ve been close to the ILWU’s trade unionism, working for its members, protecting their jobs, livelihoods, medical benefits and providing for their retirement regardless of the cost. Philosophically we’re very compatible.”

—Tom Price