The Titanic and SCI

The unrest on the English docks spread across the Atlantic to New York where tens of thousands seamen walked off their jobs on June 29, 1912. The White Act of 1898 had been a significant win for seamen and maritime labor activists in ending imprisonment of seamen who quit their vessel, abolishing corporal punishment, and establishing minimum requirements for provisions and living conditions on board. The unions were looking to take the next step in 1912, demanding improvements to the quality of food and sleeping quarters in addition to a revised wage contract. When the longshoremen failed to join the striking seamen in significant numbers, the movement lost speed and dissolved into violence. Several police officers and strikers were shot to death along the waterfront, with several riots breaking out just outside the doors of SCI's new headquarters.