Transcript
MONICA MILLER: They have about 800 employees now. They have not determined the number of employees they are going to keep for the other elements of their operation, and that's basically to receive fish and also manage their dock and cold storage operations. But the biggest bulk of the plant was the canning plant, and that had about 800 employees. So I would imagine that when you take out canning that a good majority of those people will be out of work.
INDIRA STEWART: Right, and how many of those employees are from Samoa?
MM: The figures that we've been told, they're telling us that between 70 and 80 percent are from Samoa. You could have a situation where somebody was born in Samoa and then came here, and then lived here all their life, but they would still be classified as from Samoa. So, you know, that's the breakdown that no one has ever done. All I know is that when Samoa Packing closed down in 2009 a lot of people left, and then also a lot of people joined Starkist. Now I'm told that some of the Starkist employees also went across to this new tuna company. So, yes, something we really need to address.
IS: Tri Marine has made a huge contribution to both American Samoa and Samoa in being able to provide those jobs over the years. So it is essentially helping to boost the economies of both countries. Has the government, or company, mentioned anything about providing some kind of support for these workers? Maybe helping them to move on to other work if that's at all possible.
MM: So far the statement from the company is that the 60-day notice they would hope would give people enough to look for a job, but, you know, in American Samoa there's not that much. I could imagine that some of the workers from Samoa who haven't really established themselves here, who may have transitioned over in the last year or so, could easily go back to Samoa and then try for the seasonal worker programme. But as far as finding jobs here, there's not much. The other thing is is that I think American Samoa itself is going to be really feeling the effects because, you know, you've got everything from retail businesses who depend on cannery employees for their sales, there's also transportation, the bus drivers, and then all these secondary businesses that depend on the canneries. This loss of 800 jobs is going to be felt across the community.
