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NEWS & COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS 2000
DECEMBER NEWS
Petition
Reached Department of Labor
Samoa
Government Investigation
- Petition Reached Department of Labor
By Fili Sagapolutele, 12/4/00, soc.culture.vietnameseOSHA rep investigates cause of Daewoosa melee
A representative of the U.S. Department of Labor is investigating the cause of Tuesday morning?s melee at Daewoosa Samoa that left one worker seriously injured.Dan Mooney of the DOL?s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) arrived Monday night initially to investigate the death of a man some two weeks ago at a construction site in the Western District.
However, the Daewoosa melee caught his attention and he was at the garment factory?s compound yesterday talking to Samoan workers and company officials, sources told the Samoa News last night.
OSHA is the federal agency charged with making sure that working conditions in the 50 states and U.S. territories are up to standards with federal regulations.
The same agency also stepped into the picture last year when Daewoosa first became the center of local and federal investigations for alleged mistreatment of its Vietnamese workers.
OSHA?s Honolulu District Office declined to comment on the new investigation and Mooney could not be reached for comments.
Among those interviewed by Mooney, according to sources, was Daewoosa?s floor supervisor Nu?uuli Ioane who was at the center of Tuesday?s incident.
The sources told Samoa News that Ioane was asked about the relationships among the Vietnamese workers, the relationships among the Samoan workers and the relations between the Samoans and Vietnamese.
Some of the information provided to Mooney has never been made public before, such as the problems that occurred between the Vietnamese themselves in which they end up fighting among themselves, just to name a few.
Ioane was also asked about what has occurred on Tuesday.
On the other hand, sources said, Mooney asked other Daewoosa officials and employees about Ioane?s performances as a supervisor and his attitude towards other workers.
Besides OSHA, investigators from the Department of Public Safety?s Criminal Investigative Division were also at Daewoosa factory yesterday conducting their investigation and talking to some of the Samoan workers including Ioane. Reportedly the investigators were also taking photos of any marks suffered during the melee.
Governor Tauese Sunia has already called on DPS Commissioner Te?o J. Fuavai for a complete and thorough investigation into this matter.
The Samoa News also learned that the Vietnamese workers were to have met last night to decide on whether they would endorse the creation of two work shifts, one with Samoan workers and one with Vietnamese workers.
The Vietnamese workers are telling their superiors that they are afraid of working with the Samoan workers and they would not work together. However, the Vietnamese workers continue to roam the streets looking for outside work.
Sources further said that the Vietnamese workers and their Samoan counterparts were set to meet yesterday morning along with the Daewoosa management and a representative of the Vietnamese government delegation that arrived early this week.
The meeting was to "patch things up". However, while the Samoan workers were waiting for about one hour, they were told that the Vietnamese workers refuse to meet again because they are afraid.
But three Samoans workers told the Samoa News last night that they have no intention of getting things worse, because "the Samoans didn?t do anything wrong from the beginning and we are not going to make things worse."
What the Samoan workers are faced with now is the backlash from the local community.
"We are being called murderers by our own Samoan people and they don?t even understand what occurred on Tuesday," said the workers. This occurred on Wednesday and again yesterday.
The workers said they have also been called other names that cannot be printed. They said local non-Samoans have created a verbal attack on them.
- Samoa Government Investigation
By Fili Sagapolutele, 12/4/00, soc.culture.vietnameseAmerican Samoa Government officials met Wednesday morning with Daewoosa Samoa officials over various issues including its financial condition and Tuesday morning?s melee.
The company?s ailing financial condition and its bleak prospects, and its labor problems, are a serious concern to the ASG.
The ASG was represented at the meeting by Commerce director Aliimau "JR" Scanlan, the Governor?s Legal Counsel Henry Kappel, and Commerce staffers.
Daewoosa was represented by owner-president Kil-Soo Lee, manager Virginia Soli?ai, and other officials.
The meeting was held before the government learned from a visiting group of Vietnamese officials that Daewoosa has once again fallen behind in paying wages to its 250 Vietnamese workers.
"Basically we want to know the financial status of the company and if they have complied with past arrangements in repayment of its land leases and how they will resolve the problems with its Vietnamese work force," Aliimau explained.
ASG also wants to know what will be done to secure the return of Daewoosa?s Vietnamese workers if anything happens to the company.
Was the government satisfied with Daewoosa?s answers?
"We talked about the future of the company and we expressed concern for its financial viability," replied Kappel. "However, nothing was said in the meeting that would resolve our concern with the company?s financial condition."
"The financial viability of Daewoosa Samoa remains a serious concern and to me, its the payroll," Aliimau added. "Its very important to us that the company honor their contract to its workers and pay them in a timely manner."
Daewoosa is also behind on the land-lease payments for its Tafuna site, despite several opportunities granted by the ASG for the company to catch up.
Daewoosa owes the government more than $140,000.
"The government is now going to re-evaluate its position and it is possible that we will ask Daewoosa to pay off the back lease payments in full," said Aliimau, who is also the chairman of the Real Property Management Board.
"It's not fair to other tenants who are paying their leases while, Daewoosa is getting free rent," he added.
As to Daewoosa's problems with its Vietnamese workers, Lee told the ASG officials that he anticipates resolving those problems and other labor- related concerns when he meets with a visiting group of Vietnamese government officials.
The Vietnamese officials represent Tourism Company 12, a government- owned entity that recruits and contracts out workers to companies like Daewoosa.
Aliimau said Lee mentioned that if the Vietnamese labor issue is not resolved, he will import workers from China and South Korea.
"That?s what Daewoosa might want but that is not what the American Samoa Government wants," Aliimau said. "Which means there is no guarantee that ASG will agree to this provision.
"It was however made clear to Mr. Lee that Daewoosa Samoa must meet the terms of its contract with ASG to train local workers and phase-out its imported workers," he continued.
"And we see no effort by Daewoosa to meet this important provision of the contract," he added.
Conditions for allowing imported workers from Vietnam was based on the provisions that they will train local workers with the locals making up the majority of the company?s workforce.
But two years later, the company continues to import Vietnamese workers, while the percentage of the local workforce remains low.
The most recent information received by the Samoa News shows that the current Daewoosa Samoa workforce includes 250 Vietnamese, 11 Chinese and 46 Samoans.