Bloomberg's Myopic Position On Jones Act Threatens to Set Back Sea Workers Labor Rights by a Nearly a Century

Miami Attorney Robert C. Gross On Bloomberg's Attack On The Jones Act

In typical "Big Business First" fashion, Bloomberg.com published a one-sided blog piece attempting to justify the repeal of the Jones Act by citing a recent, temporary suspension of the cabotage provision that prohibits foreign vessels from transporting goods between US ports. The article, published on January 1 by the editors of Bloomberg.com, trucks out the disingenuously one-dimensional argument about how the Jones Act unfairly penalizes remote US ports in places like Hawaii and Alaska. The blogpost fails, however, to mention the tremendous positive impact that the Jones Act has on the labor rights of seamen and crew members with regard to on the job injuries. An egregious exclusion.

As a Miami lawyer with extensive experience in law dealing with maritime and admiralty issues, a substantial portion of my work comes from seamen and crew members who have been injured or wrongfully killed on the job. My legal practice is largely dedicated to helping these accident victims or their families recover damages from the responsible parties. Generally, any seaman or crew member who spends more than 30% of his or her time on a vessel or line of vessels that operate in navigable waters is protected under the Jones Act, which allows them to bring action against their employers for job-related injuries. So while repealing the Jones Act might reduce some costs for the international shipping magnates who read Bloomberg, hundreds of thousands of men and women who make their living at sea and aboard vessels would be left without the worker's compensation-like protection that is afforded to nearly every land-based laborer in the United States. Bloomberg's omission of § 688—the provision of the Jones Act that addresses seaman injury claims—was irresponsible and rendered the digital article unworthy of publication.

What is particularly galling to me as a personal injury attorney who has fought for the recovery of crew members with debilitating job-related injuries is the cavalier manner in which Bloomberg conflates the unions who are fighting to retain this vital piece of labor legislation with "inefficient shipbuilders." "The law has many supporters, mainly labor unions and inefficient U.S. shipbuilders, which by some accounts charge more than double the rates of overseas builders."

What's interesting about the article is that while the Bloomberg editors self-righteously levy their attacks against the American ship-building industry for being protected from foreign competition, they fail to mention that most of the cruise lines do not pay corporate income taxes in the United States due to their foreign headquarter locations and the fact that cruise ships are registered in other countries—ones that provide favorable tax rates to the cruise line companies. This gives them a distinct tax advantage—over the land based resorts and luxury hotels with which they compete. For instance, the company that owns a foreign registered ship that ports in Miami would not be obligated to pay corporate income taxes. This is not the case with the Hyatt or the Ritz Carlton because they are located and affixed to land.

And the advantages for the cruise industry would not end there if the Jones Act were repealed. Currently the employers who hire the laborers who work in land based restaurants, hotels, resorts, et cetera, are responsible for the costs of work related injuries. This is currently countered on vessels by the Jones Act, which acts as a type of workers' comp law for seamen. As a Miami attorney who represents injured clients in Jones Act actions, I can attest to the fact that a substantial proportion of Jones Act claims result from injuries sustained by workers aboard cruise ships. What Bloomberg did not consider in its argument—or perhaps just failed to mention—is the roughly 300,000 employees who are employed by the cruise industry who would have their workplace injury insurance stripped away from them with a repeal of the law.

If you are a seaman or crewmember who has sustained a workplace injury, consult with an experienced Jones Act lawyer as to your right to be fairly compensated for your injuries.

Read the full Bloomberg article here