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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 9:16 a.m., Friday, May 11, 2007

U.S. territory looking to import workers from Samoa

Associated Press

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Citizens of neighboring Samoa would be allowed to enter American Samoa to live and work on a temporary basis under guest worker permit legislation passed by the Legislature of this U.S. territory.

Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono initially wanted workers from other areas of the Pacific to be included in the program.

But lawmakers limited the measure to only "citizens of the independent state of Samoa, who are of Samoan ancestry" to work at American Samoa's two canneries and planned call centers.

Senate President Lolo M. Moliga said Samoa can be used as a starting point for recruitment, since most cannery workers are now from the independent nation.

"Tonga and Tokelau can be added later, if there is still a need," Moliga said Thursday. "Our most critical need at this point is additional workers for the two canneries, especially production expansion at StarKist Samoa."

StarKist Samoa, owned by San Francisco-based Del Monte Food Inc., and COS Samoa Packing, owned by San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea International, have a combined payroll of close to 5,000 employees. About 80 percent are from Samoa.

Cannery officials told lawmakers last week that their immediate need was 400 workers — 200 each for StarKist and Samoa Packing.

Meki Solomona, StarKist Samoa's quality manager, said the company also needs an additional 300 workers to staff its tuna pouch production, set to begin in July.

SHORTAGE OF WORKERS

Del Monte announced in March the expansion of operations in American Samoa, creating more than 300 new jobs with the transfer of a portion of its pouch operations to the territory from the company's plant in Ecuador.

Solomona said that despite ongoing local recruiting efforts, the canneries are facing a hard time finding additional workers.

Since February, the two canneries have been recruiting islandwide, setting up recruiting stations at public places, such as the main government building and outside of the post office.

Recruiters also traveled to villages to tell prospective employees about cannery salaries (minimum $3.26 per hour), benefits and other incentives.

But Solomona told lawmakers last week that American Samoans, specially high school graduates, look down on the labor-intensive work offered at the canneries.

"However, despite this setback, we continue to recruit workers and have had some success. But we still need more workers," Solomona said.

AMNESTY PROVISION INCLUDED IN BILL

To help meet the current need of the canneries, the guest worker permit bill includes an amnesty provision. It would allow citizens of Samoa currently in the territory illegally to apply for the permit to work at the canneries and planned call centers.

Government witnesses who testified on the bill said there are about 800 illegal immigrants in the territory, with about 90 percent from Samoa.

The government didn't have specific data as to the number of Samoan citizens working in the territory.

The calls centers are to be established as soon as American Samoa is connected to an undersea fiber optic cable.

The U.S. Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs budget for fiscal year 2008 includes $3 million for fiber optic cable development in American Samoa.

Tulafono said last month that he had asked the department to set aside an another $3 million over the next five years for the project.

One of six unidentified companies interested in setting up call centers in the territory is looking at initially operating with 200 employees for each of three shifts, seven days a week, with the possibility of expanding operations to 2,000 people, the governor said.

American Samoa is located about 2,300 miles south of Hawai'i.