🗞️ NLRB Orders Overseas Shipholding Group to Bargain With Deck Officers' Union

The National Labor Relations Board on August 4 ordered Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) to begin bargaining with the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P), nearly two years after the union's officers first voted to unionize. The decision, issued by Chairman James R. Murphy and Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer, grants a General Counsel motion for summary judgment and finds that OSG violated federal labor law by refusing to recognize the union following its certification.

MM&P was certified on October 31, 2024, as the exclusive bargaining representative for full-time and regular part-time licensed deck officers, including chief mates, floating chief mates, second mates and third mates, aboard OSG's U.S.-flagged vessels. The unit excludes captains, deck cadets, non-licensed officers and guards. According to the NLRB's case record, 95 of 104 eligible voters cast ballots, with MM&P winning 50 votes to 12 for a rival union, the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, and 30 votes against representation.

OSG did not dispute that it refused to bargain but argued it had no legal duty to do so, contending the bargaining unit itself was improperly defined, an argument the Board had already rejected once in the underlying representation case. The Board found that OSG's objections had already been litigated, or could have been, in that earlier proceeding and that the company offered no new evidence justifying a second look. OSG also raised a series of constitutional challenges to the Board's structure, including claims that its members and administrative law judges are unconstitutionally shielded from removal by the president. The Board called these claims "bare assertions" unsupported by explanation or evidence and declined to let them block the ruling.

The case is one of two similar disputes involving Saltchuk-owned tanker operators and MM&P. A related case involving Alaska Tanker Company, a sister OSG subsidiary, produced a separate bargaining order in May, according to earlier reporting on that dispute. MM&P has described the combined organizing campaign across OSG and Alaska Tanker Company, covering roughly 17 vessels, as the largest bottom-up organizing win among licensed U.S. deck officers in decades. The case took an unusually long path to resolution in part because a loss of quorum at the NLRB, stemming from a board member's removal in early 2025, froze proceedings for more than a year, according to Labor Notes, before a new appointment allowed the Board to resume acting on the case in March 2026.

Key Points

• The NLRB ordered Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. to recognize and bargain with the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots as the exclusive representative of its licensed deck officers.
• The bargaining unit covers roughly 100 chief mates, floating chief mates, second mates and third mates on OSG's U.S.-flagged vessels; captains and non-licensed crew are excluded.
• MM&P was certified in October 2024 after winning a mail-ballot election, 50 votes to 12 over a rival union, with 30 votes cast against representation.
• OSG had refused to bargain since March 2026, arguing the certified unit was improperly defined and raising constitutional objections to the Board's authority, all of which the Board rejected.
• OSG, based in Tampa, Florida, is owned by Saltchuk Resources; a related case involving its sister company, Alaska Tanker Company, resulted in a separate NLRB bargaining order in May 2026.
• The Board ordered OSG to post notices at its Tampa facility and aboard its vessels and to certify compliance within 21 days.

Sourcing

Primary Source: National Labor Relations Board, Decision and Order, 375 NLRB No. 24
Primary Source Link: NLRB Case 12-CA-386056
Supplemental Links:

• NLRB Case 12-RM-327039 (underlying representation case)
• Oil Tanker Mates Fight for First Contract Against Familiar Employer Stalling Tactics, Labor Notes
• MMP union celebrates major organizing win at OSG, Marine Log
• Tanker Company Ordered to the Bargaining Table After Two-Year Standoff with Maritime Officers Union, On the Labor Front
• Overseas Shipholding Group, Wikipedia