The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-07-31
THE UNION HERE At LAST
THE SEAMEN'S ORGANIZATION
EXTENDED TO HONOLULU.
The. Sailors Union of the Pacific Coast
Joins the Fight Against the Shipping
Masters Here.

The Sailors Union of the Pacific, an
organization having a membership of
about 1000, successor of the Coast Sea-
mems Union and the Steamship Men 8
Protective Association, has come to
Honolulu and established headquarters,
preparatory to organizing branch of
the union here. j. p. Rasmussen, agent
of the union, sent here from San Fran
cisco to look after the work, is now
making preparations for the organiza-
tion. The union will enter the lists here
as it has on the Coast, against the
shipping master business, and it's MEM
bers claim that there will be no more
pickings here for shipping masters
when the union is ready for business.
The union ships crews free of any
charge to either captain or men, and
in some of the Coast cities it has run
the shipping masters out of business al
together.
Rasmussen has occupied quarters at
the corner of King and Nuuanu streets.
He says there will be no shipping mas
ters on the beach when he gets through
with his work, and that it was at the
request of seamen who have been to
Honolulu, that he was sent here to or
.ganize a branch. A majority of the
men now in the harbor are members of
the union, and they are expected to
affiliate with the branch at once. The
Federation of Labor and the Interna-
tional Labor Union, and has branches
all over the Pacific Coast of America,
as well as in Australasia.
Shipping of crews according to the
union method is done at the union
headquarters. IT get my salary from
the union," said Mr.. Rasmussen, land
have no charge to make against either
the captain or the crews. Every men,
Der who joins the union pays an ad-
mission fee, the same as in the case of
any other union, and after that he has
the unions protection at all times, and
it's assistance in getting work.
THE Union ruling rate of wages for
seamen now is $40 per month on lum-
ber vessels between here and the coast,
and $35 for vessels between Honolulu
and San Francisco. This is the rate
that has been paid for some time
Where the Union comes in the ship
ping master goes out, say the MEM
bers, and there are dark days ahead for
Turk & Lewis, if the organization is as
successful here as it has been in other
places. 1t is a protective and social
organization, as well as a union and
has had many bitter fights with the
shipping masters and their "scab"
seamen in the past. Honolulu is likely
to see some repetitions of this sort of
thing, if the shipping masters keep up
their pace.
Rasmussen is sharing the same build
ing as evangelist McComb of the JOY
full News Mission. The latter is keep
ing up his religious meetings and his
campaign against Lewis & Turk, and
says that Honolulu is not big enough
to hold both him and the two shippers
He denies the statement that he has
anything to do with boosting wages or
shipping crews, and says that Rasmus-
sen will attend to all that. Rasmussen
is a former ship master.
The assault and battery case of Frank
Turk charged with striking a sailor,
Engman, was postponed i'm Judge Will
coX's court to till tomorrow. Engman
is a union man. The row in which he
was struck occurred over the shipping
of men for the schooner Inca. There
are witnesses for both sides, those for
the defense claiming that the blow was
struck in self defence.