[quote=stevefoster;18538]So what will happen now is anyone’s guess. The CBP says they aren’t going to drop the matter entirely and there is still the issue of the manning waivers and OCS-B1 visa giveaway. Getting that one turned around will obviously be harder now but hopefully still not impossible. I American mariners could just come together as one voice to lobby Washington
[B]C.Captain, If you can find a way to get American mariners to come together as one voice on any subject please make a suggestion. I’m not talking unions either. We need some type of organization on the issues of the Jones Act and the many changing and extremely ambiguous C.G. policies regarding Licensing. I’m suprised someone hasn’t gone postal yet. The Coast Guard clearly has no clue as to the frustrations they have and are causing and we need some legal action such as a class action suit to show what kind of damage they are causing finacially to Merchant Marine families because they can’t interpret their own written policies in a standard and uniform manner. If anybody has any suggestions on how to come together on these issues I will be more and happy to step up to the plate and join in…[/B][/quote]
twinscrew.org was originally set up for this purpose. It’s run as a forum, but would be ideal for organizing political action for waterfront and maritime workers, also. It wouldn’t be difficult to set up a facebook group also. If folks are willing to admin or moderate either, I’m game.
The key, in my opinion, is to check the voting records of members of Congress and vote independently. It’s too easy to say, “They’re all crooked,” and just shrug this all off. It only takes a few of us–not the entire 69,000 or so mariners and tens of thousands of dockworkers. We just need to get a large enough number of people together to make this happen.