 In October 1936, Curran called a second strike, the 1936 Gulf Coast maritime workers' strike, in part to improve working conditions and in part to embarrass the ISU.The four-month strike idled 50,000 seamen and 300 ships along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.Believing it was time to abandon the conservative International Seamen's Union, Curran began to sign up members for a new, rival union.