A recent piece in The New York Times, "Stowaways and Crimes Aboard a Scofflaw Ship," provides an interesting view into the interplay between national laws and admiralty & maritime law.
Despite historically and current well-documented abuse of foreign seamen working for unscrupulous shipowners and employers around the world as reported by Mr. Urbina in the Times, the Republican controlled U.S. Congress is trying to add amendments to the pending Coast Guard Reauthorization appropriation bill that if passed would gut hundreds of years of US Maritime Law and federal statutory law providing rights and remedies in the U.S. courts for injured, sick, unpaid and abandoned seamen.
Cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean based in the U.S. but who do not pay corporate taxes are pushing hard for taking away seamen's rights and remedies. Say "No" to further giveaways to the cruise lines and protect America, its ship industry and its workers.