Shipyard CEO raises ire of lawmakers at joint budget hearing

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Lawmakers were not happy with Shipyard Services CEO Carlos Sanchez’s demeanor during last Friday’s joint budget hearing.

In fact, they were insulted, and they told him point-blank and in no uncertain terms, to shut up because he was being disrespectful!

Sanchez and two members of his management team were testifying before the Fono’s joint Budget and Appropriations Committee.

According to Sanchez, the Shipyard is doing very well and starting this week, they will be dry docking 13 Taiwanese fishing longliners, which will provide more local jobs and they will be working right through to November. These longliners deliver fish to StarKist and they used to dry dock in Fiji.

However he pointed out, they do not have that many jobs every year.

He stated that American Samoa and Samoa have a limited number of boats and they dry dock every three years.

 “If we wait for the same boats, we run out of funds like what happened in past administrations where they had to lay off people because they didn’t have funds to pay them,” Sanchez revealed.

He explained that to avoid this, they have had to do outside jobs such as dock maintenance they are performing for the Port Authority and they are also cooperating with ASPA in maintaining 37 tanks including the Utulei tank that they are completely repairing for a cost of almost half a million dollars.

 “We were forced to do these jobs because the number of boats that need dry docking won’t allow us to survive,” he stated. “Many people don’t know that we don’t receive any payment for local boats. We make our own money. To survive, we have to make our own money, look for our own clients, look for our own jobs, and we have been able not only to survive, but grow tremendously.

 “Twenty years ago when we came in, we had nothing. Absolutely nothing! Now we have more than one million dollars in inventory and we have $200,000 reserved for our workers in case we run into financial problems.”

The Shipyard CEO pointed out that they have acquired all the equipment needed for their work and they repair everything themselves.

He recalled that they could have contracted out these repair work like what past administrations did with the many grants they received.

 “When we came, the shipyard was in debt to Koreans because they were contracted to do the repairs but they were not paid,” Sanchez recalled. “We paid those contract bids.”

He stated that they have been successful so far and reasoned that looking for outside jobs has been good for government and the public and for them, because they will make any deadline set and more importantly, they do reliable and quality work.

Faipule Tapai A. B. Vaivao commended Sanchez and his “hard working crew for bringing life back to the shipyard.”

The faipule also mentioned that he had read in the papers that Sanchez was stepping down from his position as CEO and asked if this was true and why.

Sanchez responded that it was true and that it was because of “this really really horrible relationship we have with the chairman of the Board.”

 “We work 10 to 12 hours a day and someone who goes there once a month for one hour tells you how to manage the Shipyard,” he said. “So in order not to disturb the team, I decided to step down as soon as they find someone to continue with the job.”

The mood of the hearing began to heat up when Faipule Luaitaua Gene Pan asked Sanchez why there wasn’t any position of Safety Officer in their proposed budget, when they had a proposed amount of $10,000 for safety supplies.

Luaitaua pointed out that shipyard workers perform dangerous work and mentioned the incident where a diver died during a diving training session last month. He stated that workers’ lives are at stake and their safety should be a priority.

In response Sanchez asked the faipule if he had ever been to the shipyard.

Luaitaua answered that he had and that he worked for StarKist for 20 years as a Safety Officer, to which Sanchez responded that he had worked for StarKist for 35 years.

Luaitaua shot back that he was one of the safety officers who had stopped shipyard workers from doing unsafe acts on the boat.

Unfazed, Sanchez laughed out loud and said, “Thank you for stopping me. Look, we have safety officers. We are the safety officers. You will never see me in my office because I am always on the floor watching out for my workers.”

He also stated that the reason why the diver died was not because of the equipment he was using because their equipment is top of the line.

Before he could continue, committee co-chairman Faipule Vailoata E. Amituana’i cut in because he could not ignore the many lawmakers who had raised their hands for a chance to speak.

House Vice Speaker Fetu Fetui, Jr. intervened saying the witness was behaving out of order with his know-it-all attitude, answering a question with a question of his own.

 “He is a witness in this hearing and he is required to answer the questions posed by members of this committee, not act like a smart-alec and answer with another question,” Faipule Fetu said. “It’s unprofessional.”

Sen. Malaepule Saite Moliga continued the hearing by returning to the issue of safety.

 “The issue raised by Rep. Luaitaua is a very serious matter,” he began. “You’re considering yourself as a safety officer/ manager for the shipyard and yet there is no proposed funding for safety training for your workers. You’re not supporting that effort without funding.”

 “How do you know?” Sanchez asked. “Have you been there?”

 “Shut up Carlos!” Sen. Malaepule exploded. “Shut your mouth! Listen to me, I’m trying to help you out.

“Having the funding for the safety of the employees is the most important thing to me. And also your training.

“You put more money on traveling and business and only budget $10,000 for training!

 “You should put more emphasis on safety and more training of the employees.

“Sometimes you have to listen to what we say because we are trying to help you.

“I don’t need any crap from you.

“When you are in these chambers, you should have respect otherwise, you’ll get nothing!

“I demand that you put more emphasis on the safety of the employees and their training.”

Sanchez’s grilling continued when committee co-chairman Sen. Utu Sila Poasa, who was clearly upset, launched another verbal attack on the Shipyard CEO by again emphasizing that hiring a safety officer is required by law.

Utu also reminded him that their primary job was to take care of the boats that need their dry docking services and not spend all their time being subcontracted by ASPA to take care of the tanks.

 “Just remember your primary job,” Utu warned. “The only reason why ASPA wants you to sandblast their tanks is because there is no other sandblasting business on-island. Just remember that you only do those outside jobs when there are no ships to take care at the shipyard. Those jobs are secondary.

“I will shut you off from ASPA if you don’t listen to what I’m telling you.”

Sanchez responded and pointed out that they have always been on hand when boats needed to be dry docked.

 “We have never said no,” Sanchez stressed. “We have always fixed every boat that needed our services.”

He also invited lawmakers to visit the shipyard and witness how far they have progressed since they took over.

Sen. Fonoti T. Aufata asked how many government vessels they have worked on.

Sanchez listed the government vessels and revealed that the government owes the shipyard $500,000 in repair costs.

 “How can you continue to operate when the government owes so much money?” Sanchez asked. “So I have to look for the money some place else because the government says, ‘Next budget maybe.’

“My primary role is not to take care of the boats here, my primary role is to take care of the workers.”

The amount of time that Sanchez took to answer the question did not sit well with Sen. Utu and he again admonished the witness saying that he was still being disrespectful and to make his answers short and to the point so that they could finish the hearing.

Sen. Soliai T. Fuimaono then intervened and advised the co-chairmen to exercise patience and tolerance in controlling the hearing instead of letting their emotions get in the way.

He explained that Sanchez has been reappointed by government to this position because he has a wealth of experience and was responsible for transforming the shipyard to what it is today.

He advised Fono members to have an open mind and not to be too hasty to criticize and judge but to look at it from a broader perspective.

House Vice Speaker Fetui, Jr. did not agree with Sen. Soliai’s comments.

 “I will not accept any government department leader appearing in this chamber [that] disrespects the leaders chosen by the people of this Territory, and I don’t care how brilliant and experienced they are,” stated the Manu’a faipule.

Sanchez, who requested a chance to speak, apologized if he had sounded disrespectful saying he was a professional and he had to be clear and honest in his presentation.

BACKGROUND

Samoa News points out that the last known board of directors of the American Samoa Shipyard Authority was appointed in 2021, with all of the board members’ terms to expire January 2024.

It is not known at this time, who the chairman of the ASSA board is.

Members named in 2021 were:  Angelo Canapé, Sen. Fano Frank M. Shimasaki, Rep. Sam Meleisea, Peter Talivaa, Krista Corry, Sen. Togiola Tulafono, Leilua Stevenson, Director Christopher King, Taulapapa William Sword, and Frank Gaisoa.

Director King passed away last year, and it is unknown who has replaced him on the current ASSA board.