By 1935 Elliott had become recognised as a leader of Australian seamen and was prominent in a bitter strike against an unsatisfactory Award and poor working conditions that lasted from December 1935 to February 1936.
While many labelled him a Stalinist, he was a dynamic leader of the Seamen's Union, who used every opportunity to advance the interests of his members including strong advocacy for the Australian merchant fleet.
With the advancement of shipbuilding in the 1960s and containerisation, Elliott and the union's policy making body, the National Committee of Management (COM), met over four days in June 1968 and hammered out a historic document formulating the union's attitude to technological change on the basis of social progress that was subsequently unanimously adopted at meetings of seamen around Australia.
The Seamens' Union of Australia, which amalgamated with the Waterside Workers Federation in 1993 to form the Maritime Union of Australia, was also renowned in the Australian labour movement for its involvement nationally and internationally in political issues like the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and in protests against the Vietnam War, motivated by the necessity of social progress in work and society on a national and international scale.
Some of the ashes of Elliott were scattered on the sea south east of Sydney Heads at a mariner's funeral service held on the morning of 12 April 1985.