I don't like it that American Samoa is exempt from the new min. wagge law.

[napi21]

Why in the world would Nancy do such a thing when it makes her look so bad?

American Sammoa is the home of Starkist Tuna that employs almost 3/4 of the island residents, and their home office is in SF, Calif....Pelosi's district.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. I AM FUCKING APALLED

JUST GOES TO SHOW THE DEMS WILL SHIT ON THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD AS WELL! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH:grr:

[tridim]

15. Oh please..

There's no problem with being upset, but to equate this tiny hiccup with "shitting on the people of the world" is a massive overreaction.

[Gman]

20. Gimme a fucking break

talk about a drama queen.

There's a post over at FR that says Fox is reporting that the Congressional representative from American Samoa specifically asked that AS be excluded due to the fact there 80% of their economy is Starkist and Chicken of the Sea. If they close up shop and move due to having to pay higher wages, 80% of American Samoa is on welfare.

[Wiley50]

23. Does anyone else smell Cat Food besides me?

The Stuff Just Makes Me Wanna GAG!

Mercury's Rising

Cat Scratch Fever

They Called Him Flipper Flipper Flipper

[xultar]

51. BUHWAWAWA!

[peacebird]

2. what is a living wage in American Samoa? Is cost of living comparable to the US?

Does anyone know?

:wtf:

[nini]

6. much lower

.

[napi21]

8. I don't know what their COL is, but they just said the min wage there is

$3.30. I don't really think it matters though. The new min wage law applies in Guam and all other US territories, so why not Samoa?

[nini]

11. Interesting.. I'd like to see the reasoning

I do know the cost of living is quite low there but I doubt much different that Guam.

Most Samoans have housing on land owned by families for generations so housing isn't a big issue.

A lot of food is grown on their land etc..

It will be interesting to see what the reasoning was. hmmmmmmmmm

[peacebird]

13. Minimum wage should be a livable wage, and the cost of living varies in different parts of the world

In some areas the our minimum wage would be a kings ransom.... That's all - I was just curious what the cost of living was in American Samoa - perhaps that is what Pelosi was looking at. I don't know.... Just wondered.

[eagler]

25. That's just a copout to ensure that corporations can continue

to move overseas to avoid fair wages and benefits.

[peacebird]

48. Hi Eagler - Actually no. It isn't a cop out. I am not talking about corps off shoring either

but since you brought it up... I think we need to cut out all tax breaks given to corporations that offshore jobs, and insist that all govt contracts go to American companies who are employing American citizens. Congress actually passed a law that said govt contracts could only go to American companies - but the passed the law AFTER contracts for the fiscal year were already let AND they had the law term expire before the end of the next fiscal year. Cute, huh? They got to grandstand and say they "TOOK ACTION" while not actually doing a thing. This was several years ago....

I see minimum wage as important for everyone BUT I think that minimum wage should be based on cost of living in the various countries. I am NOT advocating starvation slave wages, I am talking a minimum wage which is a decent livable wage. And it simply costs less to live in some places and more in others. Which is why I asked about the cost of living in American Samoa.

[Freddie Stubbs]

46. Then rural areas should have a sub-minimum wage too?

The have lower cost of living that urban areas.

[peacebird]

49. Perhaps minimum wage should have regional offsets like the govt travel rates do?

I get a higher per diem in some locales and lower in others - based on costs there. Why can't minimum wage also adjust higher in more expensive places?
Just an idea....

[Toots]

47. American Somoa is the US

It is a US territory. It lives under the same Constitution and Laws as all of us.

[MasonJar]

3. We should write or call her...anyone have her phone number?

[OKNancy]

4. I'm glad I read DU.. this was posted earlier today

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2007/01/11/america-samoa-and-federal-wage-hike

Republican leadership aides are accusing the Democrats of using a double standard by imposing the higher minimum wage on the Northern Mariana Islands while continuing to exempt American Samoa say American media reports reprinted in the Saipan Tribune today.
snip
In a statement in response today, Faleomavaega said "despite recent claims made by the Washington Post which suggest that American Samoa is exempt from the federal minimum wage process, I wish to set the record straight."
He says since 1956, the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor has conducted Special Industry Committees every two years in American Samoa to determine minimum wage increases.
"While these Industry Committees have been phased out in other US Territories due to their more diversified economies, American Samoa continues to be a single industry economy. In fact, more than 80% of our private sector economy is dependent either directly, or indirectly, on two U.S. tuna processors, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist. As has been repeatedly stated at our Special Industry Committees, a decrease in production or departure of one or both of the two canneries in American Samoa could devastate the local economy resulting in massive layoffs and insurmountable financial difficulties," the Congressman says.


more at link

[YDogg]

12. hoyer spoke about this briefly this afternoon on the floor of the house

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. So, the arguement is that increasing the minimum wage American Samoa will kill jobs?

That sounds a lot like the Republicans argument about the minimum wage everywhere else.

[SoCalDem]

5. But but but.. it's an American "protectorate".. We are just protecting

those people from the hassles involved with having too much money :sarcasm:

It's hight time we stopped this "protectorate" stuff. The only thing these people need protection from is ...US.

This is just a clever way to claim that something is American Made, when nothing could be further from the truth.

[BayCityProgressive]

9. i JUST CALLED AND LEFT HER A

MESSAGE. GRRRRRRR.

[LSK]

44. I hope you told her to prevent war with Iran

All this minimum wage stuff will be irrelevant come WW3.

[Don_1967]

7. I agree I just don't get

this gives the Republicans a lot of ammo read this http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm

[geek_sabre]

10. Well, I think I know why Starkist is based in San Francisco...

According to Wiki:

"Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi is a primary Del Monte investor, with $17 million in shares."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Monte

[nini]

14. It's in San Francisco because that is a port city

considering their products are shipped in this makes sense.

They used to have plants in the L.A. Harbor but don't anymore.

[lapfog_1]

26. Think Pineapples...

Del Monte owns Starkist.

Del Monte was the largest importer of pineapples to the mainland. They processed and canned the pineapples here near San Francisco. They also have canning operations for vegetables in Salinas (I think the canning operations are closed now, but I'm not sure).

The reason Samoa was left out is that it was never subject to minimum wage laws. Not ever.

COL in Samoa is not at all like here in the states.

Samoa, located closer to the far east than the continental US, will likely lose their packing industry to non US territories in the region. The packing industry employs 75 percent of the island's workers. They already are getting $3.30 an hour, which is some 5 to 8 times more than workers in the region with similar COL.

[Taoschick]

37. If we factored in COL for the minimum wage

We would have multiple minimum wages across the USA.

[lapfog_1]

38. True, and we probably should

It's very hard to live here in the Bay area on the proposed $7+ per hour. Even $10/hour here is like $20K a year, and that's a real challenge for anyone but students living in dorm like situations. Raising a family on $20K here? forget it. However, I'm sure its possible in other parts of the country.

Samoa, otoh, it's quite likely that $3.50 hour is an "OK" starting wage. Comfortable? no... but "OK".

One size fits all is not the way to address problems or needs.

[RB TexLa]

39. We do have multiple minimum wages across the US

[Taoschick]

43. Oh really?

multiple federal minimum wages?

[RB TexLa]

54. You only said we should have multiple minimum wages

Which we do. If you had said we should have multiple federal minimum wages, I would not have said we do (at least within the 50 states and the District). Jurisdictions that have set a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage have done so out of concern of the cost of living within their jurisdiction.


If we factored in COL for the minimum wage

We would have multiple minimum wages across the USA.

[Taoschick]

55. Ah..

I see your confusion. I was under the impression it was clear this is a thread about the federal minimum wage.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Where does it say that?

I don't see where it mentions Paul Pelosi.

[geek_sabre]

18. its under trivia

.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Nancy Pelosi is married to Pee Wee Herman?

I had no idea.

[MonkeyFunk]

30. It's been edited out

it seems to have been put in there by a vandal. there was no citation.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. Gee whiz.

I wonder who'd do that.

[MonkeyFunk]

32. hard to say

eh?

Is there a wink smilie?

[MonkeyFunk]

33. It was non-sourced citation

probably put there by a right-wing troll trying to somehow blame Nancy Pelosi for a situation that has been in place since at least the 1950s.

You understand that anybody can edit a Wikipedia page, right? When making such a scandalous accusation, it might be better to double-check a fact like that elsewhere.

I checked the Delmonte corporate page, the Yahoo profile for the company, and their 2006 Annual Report and could find no reference to Paul Pelosi being a major shareholder. Further, a Google search for Paul Pelosi Del Monte didn't turn up any such reference, either.

[pinto]

42. Ha.

[Telly Savalas]

35. Check out this wikipedia link.

It documents how Nancy Pelosi spent most of the late 1960's raising money for Charles Manson's legal defence fund, and then in the 1970's she became a serial killer herself.

Nancy Pelosi is not on our side!!!!1111

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funyuns

[RB TexLa]

41. No Del Monte stock listed in her financial disclosure

http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/pfd2005/N00007360_2005.pdf

Lots of tech stock, hollywood, financial and a fishery in Hawaii.

[Lusted4]

17. Before everyone gets their undies in a bunch.

From what I have heard on the issue is, that the clause in the bill that everyone is getting all excited about,has been grandfathered into all of the minimum wage bill's since the 1950's. Everybody has been going along with it up until now. Lets check the record on those that yell the loudest.

[napi21]

21. Thatmay be true, and I also heard that Nancy is going to correct

the bill so that it applies to ALL the US and it's territories. The problem is, after allthe Dems have screamed at the Pubs for their double standards, deceipt, and hidden actions in the middle of the night, ALL THE DEMS should double check to make absolutely sure nothing like this hands a political gift to the pubs!

THAT'S the thing that upsets me the most! I have no feelings about Samoa one way or the other, and I sure wouldn't be spending any time fighting to get them higher wages. It just never would have crossed my radar. It DOES bother me a lot though that the Pubs find these little things and hammer the Dems for days & weeks!

[paulk]

22. it's worth reading this article -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801641.html


It's not so cut and dried...

[Mika]

24. It is kinda cut and dry..

.. if they put 'Made in the USA' on their labels then they should not be exempt from US labor laws.

[paulk]

29. what ever

did you even read the article?

I am so fucking sick of posts like your's

I'm trying to add some information to this discussion, and all you can post

is the usual blah, blah , blah

[Mika]

34. OK. Wow.

Where's the bug? Up your ass?

:crazy:


What did you gleen from the article? That US labor laws shouldn't apply?

[originalpckelly]

36. No, US labor laws do apply, just in a different way.

The Labor Secretary sets the wage, on advice of a special industry group. This, however, is not because of Nancy Pelosi or the bill raising the minimum wage, HR 2, it is the status quo.

Here is the law giving him/her the authority (29 USC 206 (a(2))):
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sec_29_00000206----000-.html

Here is 205, the section about the committee:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sec_29_00000205----000-.html

And 208 with more about the committee:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sec_29_00000208----000-.html

[Wiley50]

27. They Called Him Flipper Flipper Flipper

Faster than lightning
No one you'd see
was faster than he
But Now you know Flipper Flipper Flipper's
been ground into Cat Food
blended with brine
and fish undefined
in High Mercury

[rpgamerd00d]

28. DEBUNKED 3 TIMES HERE TODAY STOP POSTING IT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3107081

[NewJeffCT]

62. I didn't see a post specifically debunking it?

I saw several posts about how raising the minimum wage in American Samoa would hurt their tuna industry, which is nearly the sole driver of their economy.

I saw one person who said it was a Republican who tried to put it in the bill, but Barney Frank shot him down.

I did not see anything definitive about the minimum wage there.

[rpgamerd00d]

63. Its ILLEGAL for Pelosi to raise the min. wage in Samoa! (link and text repeated)

"The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), applies generally to employment within American Samoa as it does to employment within the United States. The minimum wage rates for American Samoa are set by a special industry committee (29 U.S.C. 205, 29 C.F.R. Part 511) appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor, as required by the Act. The rates are set for particular industries, not for an employee's particular occupation. The rates are minimum rates (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(3)); an employer may choose to pay an employee at a rate higher than the rate(s) for its industry.

"The Act contains a number of additional requirements, including the payment of premium rates to certain covered employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek (29 U.S.C. 207), limitations on the employment of minors, and provisions relating to the Act's coverage and exceptions to and exemptions from some of the Act's general requirements."

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/americanSamoa/ASminwage.htm

[NewJeffCT]

64. Thanks

it wasn't quite clear from all the responses that it was that specific one that debunked it - the post about how it would hurt the economy of Samoa got way more replies than the post from dflprincess on the DoL statute, which generated one.

[smalll]

40. No objection here. Before we lower the minimum wage for the Samoans -

we need to ban their ingestion of trans fats!

:sarcasm:
(just channeling my inner Bloomberg there.)

[SanCristobal]

50. I'm glad we can admit the minimum wage doesn't work,

for American Samoa. Finally DU has come the the correct conclusion that the minimum wage is just a price control that distorts the market and causes prices to rise and jobs to disappear - in American Samoa. I'm glad that people have realized that the American (Samoa) economy is big and complex, and that a feel good regulation that flies in the face of economic logic will only cause harm, to American Samoa that is.

[Mikey929]

53. Crack me up

There are economic realities that some people want to ignore. Artificially raising wages does affect businesses. Period. Whether we admit it or not.

This whole vague notion of "living wage" is just so silly. So if I have no education, no skills, no motivation, and I'm actually kind of lazy, I still get a guaranteed decent wage that I can live on. How could that work in the real world? I'm serious. If you were an employer (as I am), how would you feel being told you had to pay high wages to someone who didn't deserve them? Shouldn't the idea of MERIT come into play?

I'd also be curious to see how much in campaign contributions flowed from the tuna industry to Nancy's office. Might be worth a look-see.

[Bill McBlueState]

57. "Artificially raising wages does affect businesses"

So?

People are starving and freezing, and you're all bent out of shape about businesses?

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BlueJazz]

58. With all due respect, if they did not have any skills.....

...and were lazy, why would you hire them in the first place?

[Name removed]

61. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AngryAmish]

52. There are gonna be some Angry Samoans

<>

[Tulum_Moon]

56. Who profits?

An AMERICAN BASED company! So CEO's in S.F. have more money to spend. Don't give me crap about the cost of living! Bullshit! Those people deserve the same as the rest of EVERY American! Jeez! What don't you people get!

[AngryAmish]

59. Umm, ever hear of the band Angry Samoans?

Easy big fella