Fact sheet on SSA

KEY POINT:  Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) has been the main roadblock in negotiations between the ILWU and PMA, because SSA has promoted an agenda that seeks to move as much work away from unions as possible.

SSA has systematically moved several hundred ILWU jobs off the West Coast docks in recent years.

• Clerk Planning:  When planners in West Coast stevedore and shipping companies began joining the ILWU in the mid-1990s, SSA moved its clerk planning jobs to Salt Lake City , Utah in order to avoid union representation elections.  This was done to prevent the ILWU from organizing the SSA workers, the same kind of workers represented by the union at other companies, and winning the work under arbitration.
• Off-Dock Container Storage Facilities:  SSA runs several off-dock container storage yards under the guise of separate corporate entities as a means of avoiding honoring the ILWU contract.  At these facilities containers are stored because there is so little space available at the docks today.  SSA claims they have no control over these containers, theoretically releasing them from their obligation to hire ILWU labor.  The movement of containers between the dock and these storage facilities is performed by SSA-controlled companies that utilize non-union employees. 
• Container Freight Stuffing Stations:  SSA has effectively avoided using ILWU labor in performing CFS work off dock.  In Los Angeles/Long Beach, Matson performed CFS work on dock until SSA became its stevedore operator.  When SSA took over, the CFS station was shut down and the work was moved to off-dock non-union workplaces.

In the 2002 Negotiations SSA is Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate ILWU Jobs.

• SSA was responsible for searching for and hiring Joe Miniace as the PMA chief.
• SSA controls the largest block of votes on the PMA bargaining committee which sets the agenda for the contract negotiations.
• Because of this, Miniace is promoting the SSA agenda, which is to move as much work away from the ILWU as possible.

The Technology Issue

• The ILWU has offered the PMA a sweeping technological program that allows the PMA companies to achieve what they say they wanted:  unimpeded free flow of information.  In return, the ILWU has asked for all remaining jobs and planning jobs that are within ILWU jurisdiction.
• The fact that the PMA is steadfastly refusing to discuss a cooperative approach to technological innovation is heavily influenced by the unwillingness of SSA to bargain over issues they want to implement unilaterally.
• Under the guise of technological change, SSA is working to build a competitive advantage over other stevedore companies within the PMA by creating fictive businesses identities that try to operate non-union.

SSA Believes it Has Nothing to Gain from the Proposed New Technology Agreement.

• SSA, more so than any other company, has implemented a large amount of new technology under the contract.  This has eliminated many ILWU clerk jobs.
• The fact that SSA has moved all planning jobs to Salt Lake City gives the company even less incentive to work cooperatively with the ILWU on a technology agreement.
• SSA wants to keep its outsourced planning jobs in the hands of non-union workers in Salt Lake City or wherever they want to move them in the future.  A fair technology agreement would jeopardize that agenda.
• The ILWU technology proposal would greatly benefit companies such as APL and Maersk which work cooperatively with union members to implement change.  The stumbling block is SSA which works to outsource ILWU jobs rather than negotiating in the spirit of partnership. 
• SSA, using its handpicked puppet Joe Miniace, has created a deep split within the PMA by engaging in one-sided bargaining – all take no give.

Background on SSA

• Largest stevedoring company in the nation, 4^th largest in the world.
• Jon Hemmingway, the President and CEO of SSA has bragged that “Our return on capital is as good as any of our competitors” yet the company refuses to bargain in good faith.
• Expanding rapidly since 1989, SSA is now operating in 150 locations in 13 countries.  Most of the expansion has been in Latin American countries where labor unions have had diminishing influence.
• One of the top five privately held companies in the state of Washington .
• In other countries around the world, SSA has a reputation for working to undermine union contracts.
• In New Zealand in 1998, SSA used questionable joint ventures to avoid paying employees.

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