Seafarers Worldwide Union President Emeritus Michael Sacco died December 28, 2023, in St. Louis, surrounded by members of the family. He was 86 years previous and handed away from pure causes.
Mike was the longest-serving president in SIU historical past, having led the group from 1988 till his retirement in February 2023, a interval spanning almost 35 years.
The Seafarers Worldwide Union, Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters, AFL-CIO, represents skilled United States service provider mariners crusing aboard U.S.-flag vessels within the deep sea, Nice Lakes and inland trades.
Sacco served as president of the SIU’s Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters (AGLIW) for almost 35 years, starting in June 1988. He additionally labored as president of each the Seafarers Worldwide Union of North America (a federation of autonomous unions that features the SIU AGLIW) and the Maritime Trades Division (MTD) all through the identical interval.
Furthermore, in November 1991, at its nineteenth Biennial Constitutional Conference, Sacco was elected a vice chairman of the AFL-CIO, the federation of 60 nationwide and worldwide unions representing greater than 14 million staff in the US. He finally turned the senior vice chairman of the AFL-CIO Govt Council as its longest-serving member.
A protégé of the late SIU President Paul Corridor, Sacco from 1980 to 1988 directed the SIU AGLIW’s Nice Lakes and Inland Waters division as vice chairman. Primarily based in St. Louis, he served as secretary- treasurer of the Larger St. Louis Space and Neighborhood Port Council (an MTDchartered group) and as an government board member of the Missouri State AFL-CIO. Sacco additionally was vice chairman of the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg College of Seamanship from 1968 to 1979. The college, positioned on the grounds of the Paul Corridor Middle for Maritime Coaching and Schooling in Piney Level, Maryland, prepares women and men for a profession aboard U.S.- flag industrial vessels and gives upgrading alternatives to lively members.
He turned related to the SIU in 1958 and shipped aboard U.S.-flag service provider vessels till he got here ashore through the Sixties to serve the SIU in a succession of union posts, together with these of patrolman, port agent and headquarters consultant.
A local of Brooklyn, N.Y., Sacco served within the U.S. Air Pressure from 1954 to 1958.
