I first heard about the Jones Act from my father in 1976. He had just become part of the US maritime community and one day came home and started to tell me about the
I first heard about the Jones Act from my father in 1976. He had just become part of the US maritime community and one day came home and started to tell me about the differences between the US maritime community and the Dutch maritime community.
Two things stood out; the heavy US union influence and the Jones Act. My father despised unions, as a lifelong non unionized shipping company employee (but a very benevolent one, sponsoring employee vacation resorts and excellent employee housing, and later found to have one of the most generous pension plans one can imagine). In later years his stance softened as he gradually realized that unions keep pressure on bad employers, and make it easier for good employers to compete against the bad ones.
The Jones Act was a funnier subject, because he pointed out that the prime reason for the Dutch fighting wars with Great Brittain in the 1600’s was Britain’s insistence on cabotage.
To him cabotage was an artificial means of protecting inferior abilities against superior commercial and maritime skills. He may have been right about the British, but not so much about the Americans.
In later years my father became a strong
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
