Jeffboat - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jeffboat is the largest inland shipbuilder in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Jeffersonville, Indiana

Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...

. It is the second-largest builder of barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

s. It is most notable for building the General Jackson
General Jackson (riverboat)
The General Jackson is a riverboat—more specifically, a showboat—based on the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee.The Jackson was named after another riverboat of the same name that was built in 1817; that boat was in turn named for Andrew Jackson. The modern boat was originally an attraction...

showboat

Showboat

A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers . A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat...

, the Mississippi Queen
Mississippi Queen (steamboat)
The Mississippi Queen was the second largest paddle wheel driven river steamboat ever built. The ship was the largest such steamboat when she was built in 1976 by the Delta Queen Steamboat Company at Jeffboat in Indiana and was a seven-deck recreation of a classic Mississippi riverboat now owned by...

steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

, and the Casino Aztar
Casino Aztar Evansville
Casino Aztar, located in downtown Evansville, Indiana, was the first riverboat casino in the state of Indiana, United States. The casino is owned and operated by Tropicana Entertainment which purchased original owner Aztar Corporation in 2007....

riverboat casino

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

.

Originally named the Howard Shipyards, it had fallen on hard times due to the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. The United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

bought the shipyards in 1942 and gave it to a new company, Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, it built 123 Landing Ship-Tanks (LSTs), 23 submarine chaser

Submarine chaser

A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America...

s, and numerous other craft. Post-war, the shipyards built customized crafts, but specialized in barges and towboats. In 1957, the official name was changed to Jeffboat.

Production was stopped from 1986 to 1989.

In 2001, a wildcat strike took place, as the workers felt that their union sold them out to the company.

A union decertification petition was circulated in the fall of 2006. The petition required 30% of bargaining unit employees to sign to schedule a decertification election. The election was held on Dec. 7, 2006, and the employees voted overwhelmingly (NLRB certified results 649 to 190) to retain Teamsters

Teamsters

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....

local 89 as their union.

See also