Letter: Union lessons learned from sinking of Titanic

According to the book about the people on the Titanic by Walter Lord, "The Night Lives On," a talent agency named Black signed with the steamship company to provide musicians at a cheaper price. The musicians were then cut from 5 pounds a month plus uniform allowance to 4 pounds with no uniform allowance, plus 1 shilling as a token payment from the ship so they would remain as crew.

When the musicians' union complained, the White Star management canceled the 1 shilling payment and listed the musicians as second-class passengers instead of crew, without the passenger privileges and still living in the crews' quarters.

After the sinking, the musicians' families were denied workers' compensation on the grounds that they were not employed by anyone. The Black Agency then billed one family for 14 shillings, 7 pence owing on the dead musician's uniform account.

This illustrates how important it is for all workers in any trade to be represented by a strong union. Independent contractors, indeed. Remember the Frontier.

Arthur Shapiro

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