The U.S.-flag maritime fleet has been in gradual decline throughout the postwar period, but that decline accelerated in the 1980s, with employment levels being particularly hard-hit. As a result, maritime collective bargaining entered a concessionary phase, with widespread concessions in staffing, work rules, and wages and benefits. The author finds that these recent concessions have come both in standard multi-employer agreements and in departures from those agreements on an employer-by-employer and vessel-by-vessel basis. He argues that these concessions, despite their extensiveness, will not be sufficient to halt the industry's decline in the absence of changes in public policy toward the maritime industry.
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