SSA Marine sister company to use union port drivers

SSA Marine sister company to use union port drivers    The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced its first new union contract with a port trucking company in more than 20 years. Long Beach, Calif.-based Maritech Leasing, a subsidiary of Carrix Inc., signed the contract and agreed to remain neutral during any future organizing efforts by the Teamsters at other company terminals. Carrix is the parent company of Seattle-based port terminal operator SSA Marine.
   The Teamsters port division has been trying since the end of deregulation to organize drivers who work the waterfront shuttling boxes in and out of ports without much success because most drivers are independent owners of their vehicles and subcontract themselves to trucking companies. Federal law only allows unions to represent employees, but the union is trying to get owner-operators to give up their independent status.
   The Teamsters this year sponsored legislation in California intended to override federal law and extend collective bargaining rights to owner-operators in negotiations with port motor carriers.
   “This is the initial step to re-establishing the Teamsters in America’s ports,” said Chuck Mack, director of the Teamsters port division, in a statement.
      A shortage of port truckers is worsening as drivers, fed up with low pay and too much unpaid waiting time, leave the industry for better conditions, while the volume of international cargo that needs to be moved continues to grow at strong rates.
   Some trucking executives are starting to consider allowing union representation in order to keep drivers if vessel operators and shippers aren’t willing to pay higher rates that allow them to better pay their drivers. The spread of unionized companies would stabilize compensation and help raise rates, said an industry source who helps operate a shuttle trucking company.
   The real question for trucking companies is how much control they are willing to give up and how much unions will try to exert influence over workforce and operational issues, the official said.