Michael Sacco

Seafarers International Union

President

Michael Sacco is President of the Seafarers International Union of North America (SIUNA), AFL-CIO. He was elected to the position by the SIUNA Executive Board in June 1988.

Sacco is also President of his home union – the SIUNA-affiliated Seafarers International Union Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters District/National Maritime Union (AGLIWD/NMU).

In November 1991, at its 19^th Biennial Constitutional Convention, Sacco was elected a Vice President of the AFL-CIO, the federation of 66 national and international unions representing more than 13 million workers in the United States.

Since 1988, Sacco has served as President of the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department (MTD), representing 30 unions with members engaged in shipping and maritime-related trades. He most recently was reelected to the post during the MTD’s 1999 biennial convention.

Michael Sacco joined the SIU in 1958 and shipped aboard U.S. flag merchant vessels until he came ashore during the 1960s to serve the SIU in a succession of union posts, including those of patrolman, port agent and headquarters representative.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Sacco served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954 to 1958.

Seafarers International Union

SIU, the Seafarers International Union, Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters

District, AFL-CIO, represents unlicensed United States merchant mariners sailing aboard U.S.-flag vessels in the deep sea, Great Lakes and inland trades. The union also represents licensed U.S. mariners in the Great Lakes and inland sectors. SIU members sail in the three shipboard departments: deck, engine and steward. They work aboard a wide variety of vessels, including commercial containerships and tankers, military support ships, tugboats and barges, passenger ships, gaming vessels and many more.

Chartered in 1938, the SIU prides itself on representing the best-trained, most efficient crews in the world. A key to meeting that standard is the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, located in Piney Point, Maryland. The center is a vocational training facility operated by an SIU-affiliated entity.

Today, the SIU is the largest North American union-representing merchant mariners. It is a dynamic, politically active organization dedicated to protecting the membership's job security by constantly staying a step ahead of the ever-changing needs of the industry.