I've been waiting for Democrats to be in power.

[101A]

So that we could start threads about THEIR hypocrisy. (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm)

[johnsmith]

So that we could start threads about THEIR hypocrisy. (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm)


Funniest part of that story:
During the House debate yesterday on stem-cell research, Mr. McHenry raised a parliamentary inquiry as to whether an amendment could be offered that would exempt American Samoa from stem-cell research, "just as it was for the minimum-wage bill."


Cracks me up.

They were not hearing it.

[SpursWoman]

...or this:



A spokeswoman for Mrs. Pelosi said Wednesday that the speaker has not been lobbied in any way by StarKist or Del Monte

I'll bet. :lol

[Nbadan]

Whew.....sounds sinister right? Well...


"In a statement in response today, Faleomavaega (American Samoa delegate) 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.

"For this very reason, I do not support efforts to apply mainland minimums to American Samoa at this time. The truth is the global tuna industry is so competitive that it is no longer possible for the federal government to demand mainland minimum wage rates for American Samoa without causing the collapse of our economy and making us welfare wards of the federal government."

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


American Samoa is where the sweatshops are that financed congressional crooks and even Abrhamoff. They are allowed to use the MADE IN USA label but they don't have to follow laws on child labor and min. wage. Mainly it's a paradise for American companies to exploit, poor, nearly slave labor and even child prostitution. These cos. pump tons of money into lobbyists to insure thier exclusion from american laws.

[xrayzebra]

^^Mean old American companies, creating jobs where there were none and
making those people work in sweat shops.

I understand the guards with their guns trained on these workers make above
minimum wage.

[johnsmith]

American Samoa is where the sweatshops are that financed congressional crooks and even Abrhamoff. They are allowed to use the MADE IN USA label but they don't have to follow laws on child labor and min. wage. Mainly it's a paradise for American companies to exploit, poor, nearly slave labor and even child prostitution. These cos. pump tons of money into lobbyists to insure thier exclusion from american laws.



Soooo, wouldn't that make this story even worse then?

[Nbadan]

Soooo, wouldn't that make this story even worse then?

Yeah, but what are ya gonna do? Destroy the only industry on the Island?

[johnsmith]

Yeah, but what are ya gonna do? Destroy the only industry on the Island?


Shouldn't you of all people be outraged that American companies are exploiting these people for these purposes and then exludes them on bills that would increase the quality of life for those working in the plants?


I mean, I see your point, as well as the point of the article when whoever it was that wrote it stated:



The truth is the global tuna industry is so competitive that it is no longer possible for the federal government to demand mainland minimum wage rates for American Samoa without causing the collapse of our economy and making us welfare wards of the federal government.

But doesn't this sort of go against the liberal "help all people" ideology?

[Nbadan]

Hmmm...


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."

The way I'm reading the info, American Samoa is exempted from all minimum wage laws, not just the one the house passed. The North Mariana Islands were included in the bill in an effort to shutter sweatshops on the islands.

Saipan Tribune (http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=64701&cat=1)

American Samoa is always exempt from the Minimum Wage law.

[SpursWoman]

Yeah, but what are ya gonna do? Destroy the only industry on the Island?


No, we'll just destroy low-wage intensive industries everywhere else in America. :lol


And people complain about outsourcing jobs overseas where the labor is cheaper now?

[johnsmith]

This is really interesting.

[Nbadan]

Shouldn't you of all people be outraged that American companies are exploiting these people for these purposes and then exludes them on bills that would increase the quality of life for those working in the plants?

The law is designed to protect the highly competitive tuna industry which 80% of the population rely on so they won't be wards of the Feds. These sweatshops exploit the law so that they can stick a 'MADE IN USA' label on their products.

[johnsmith]

The law is designed to protect the highly competitive tuna industry which 80% of the population rely on so they won't be wards of the Feds. These sweatshops exploit the law so that they can stick a 'MADE IN USA' label on their products.


But if they are being treated so poorly, shouldn't something be done about that rather then just keep exempting them?

[Nbadan]

No, we'll just destroy low-wage intensive industries everywhere else in America. :lol

And people complain about outsourcing jobs overseas where the labor is cheaper now?

So they are gonna out-source burger-flipping and beer serving? I don't see it. China has a minimum wage below .80 per hour, other countries even less. We'll never be able to compete at $5.25 an hour much less $7.25, but what the increase does do is put more money into the hands of American consumers and less into those of stock-holders, many of whom have turned record profits into financing the housing boom that is pricing new families out of markets like SA.

[Nbadan]

But if they are being treated so poorly, shouldn't something be done about that rather then just keep exempting them?

Anything they do will just make the situation worse.

[johnsmith]

So they are gonna out-source burger-flipping and beer serving? I don't see it. China has a minimum wage below .80 per hour, other countries even less. We'll never be able to compete at $5.25 an hour much less $7.25, but what the increase does do is put more money into the hands of American consumers and less into those of stock-holders, many of whom have turned record profits into financing the housing boom that is pricing new families out of markets like SA.


I still think you should stop including SA in the group of housing markets that new families cannot afford. Housing prices in SA remain unbelievably inexpensive.

[johnsmith]

But that's for a different thread.

[Nbadan]

I still think you should stop including SA in the group of housing markets that new families cannot afford. Housing prices in SA remain unbelievably inexpensive.

Inexpensive comparatively to other parts of the country, maybe, but not inexpensive for the avg. annual income of most SA households.

[01Snake]

Inexpensive comparatively to other parts of the country, maybe, but not inexpensive for the avg. annual income of most SA households.


There is already way too many shitty homes being built in SA. You want more affordable you're going to have people living in mudhuts.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah, but what are ya gonna do? Destroy the only industry on the Island?

So it's okay to fuck over everyone down there as long as their company's campaign contributions go to the Democrats.

We get it Dan.

[clambake]

How did this escape the republicans for all those years?

The dems will be all over this if they find a bunch of dead dolphins.

[xrayzebra]

How did this escape the republicans for all those years?

The dems will be all over this if they find a bunch of dead dolphins.

Hey clam, you don't smell anything fishy?

Just checking.

[Hook Dem]

Ah yes.........good 'ol America! One side always bashing the other. The more things change, the more they remain the same! :downspin:

[Trainwreck2100]

How about the "we care more about the fucking dolphins than our workers"shop???

[Trainwreck2100]

But you see we need to stock up on tuna for when the bird flu hits, remember that, they made a movie on ABC about it so it had to have happened.

[Trainwreck2100]

If dolphins worked at tuna plants they would get avg. minimum wage.

[Extra Stout]

I am absolutely shocked, shocked I tell you, that Nancy Pelosi presided over a loophole protecting a San Francisco-based business.

[gtownspur]

I am absolutely shocked, shocked I tell you, that Nancy Pelosi presided over a loophole protecting a San Francisco-based business.


WHo cares?


I think conservatives have bigger fish to fry. We're not going to win fightning on their terms.