Wall (March 4, 1919, Portland, Oregon – February 2, 2007) was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader.
When the Merchant Marine was incorporated into the U.S. armed forces during World War II, he became a boatswain and served in the Pacific on both freight and troop carriers.
The use of much larger ships (reducing the number of transports needed to move the same amount of goods) and technological innovation (reducing the number of seamen needed to man a ship) also led to significant reductions in eligible members.
He pushed for at least 20 percent of imported oil to be carried on ships flying the American flag, lobbied against the sale of Alaskan oil to Japan, and demanded that liquefied natural gas be carried on ships and not pipelines from Alaska to continental U.S. ports.
In 1978, Wall won a new contract with Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shippers which hiked wages 32 percent over a three-year period.
After the merger, Wall became chair of the unlicensed seamen's division of District 1, and an MEBA executive vice president.
At the time of the merger, NMU had 30,000 members—which included about 14,000 members working in commissaries, dining facilities and other units in U.S. naval military bases overseas.
[7] Even after his retirement, Wall continued to press for legislative recognition of the contributions of merchant seamen during World War II.
105-258), which extended to December 31, 1946, the cut-off under which merchant marines would still be considered veterans of World War II (making the date the same as for other branches of the military).
[1][7] Wall also won a legislative battle to have the United States collect federal taxes on foreign-flagged cruise ship companies.
The law was changed by Congress in 1986 to give the Internal Revenue Service the authority to collect the taxes.
Wall formed the group to organize workers aboard U.S.-owned vessels flying under a foreign flag of convenience.
As part of the commission, he helped write four reports which heavily criticized the reduction in the size of the U.S. merchant navy and advocated for wide-ranging changes in U.S. maritime and defense law.