National Maritime Union

[1][2] At the time Curran was an able seaman and boatswain aboard the Panama Pacific Line ocean liner SS California.

Curran and the crew of California went on what was essentially a sitdown strike[4] at sailing time, refusing to cast off the lines unless wages were increased and overtime paid.

Speaking to the crew by telephone, Perkins agreed to arrange a grievance hearing once the ship docked at its destination in New York City, and that there would be no reprisals by the company or government against Curran and the strikers.

[4] However, United States Secretary of Commerce Daniel Roper and the Panama Pacific Line declared Curran and the strikers mutineers.

Curran and other top strike leaders were fined two days' pay, fired and blacklisted, but Perkins was able to keep the strikers from being prosecuted for mutiny.

[4][9] Immediately after the NMU's founding convention in July 1937, Curran and other seamen's union leaders were invited by John L. Lewis to come to Washington, D.C., to form a major organizing drive among ship and port workers.

[12] The Curran buildings held offices for the union and its pension fund, medical and training facilities, dormitory rooms for seaman, a gymnasium, swimming pool and 900-seat auditorium.

[14][15] In 1973, with the union's fortunes fading with the decreased activity in the Port of New York, the headquarters building was sold to St. Vincent's Hospital.

The 17th Street and Ninth Avenue buildings were sold in 1987 to Covenant House, a drug rehabilitation program, for use as a runaway shelter and educational facility.

[12] In 1988 the NMU agreed to merge with the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA) to form District 1, MEBA-NMU.

Seamen in hiring hall, NMU banner, New York City, December 1941. (Photograph: Arthur Rothstein)
This building at Seventh Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street , designed by Albert C. Ledner , was built in 1964 as the union's headquarters. The hiring halls were in the glass blocks on the ground floor. The union sold it to St. Vincent's Hospital in 1973, [ 12 ] and it later became Lenox Health Greenwich Village .
The Joseph Curran Annex (left) and Plaza (right), on Ninth Avenue between West 16th and 17th Streets , were built in 1966, also designed by Ledner. [ 12 ] The Ninth Avenue building on the right is currently the Maritime Hotel , while the 17th Street building (left) is being converted into the Dream Downtown Hotel. [ when? ] [ citation needed ]