The comment was made by the director of the Office of Insular Affairs, Nikolao Pula, at a joint meeting of the territory’s House of Representatives and Senate.
Pula was in American Samoa with staff of the U.S. Department of Commerce to present a set of estimates of the major components of gross domestic product for American Samoa.
He was asked questions by members of the Fono, or territorial legislature, regarding the economic future of American Samoa especially in light of the closure of one of the territory’s two canneries and the uncertain future of the other.
Pula, who is from American Samoa, admitted that they haven’t been successful in getting assistance for the territory’s plight.
“And we somehow have to come together and make some tough decisions if the other cannery leaves. You know, we helped out trying to get the fiber-optic cable here. And it got here. So we were hoping to get a couple of call centers. That hasn’t materialized I think maybe the governor and his people in the administration are working on something,” he added.
Pula said the territory shouldn’t lose hope.
Jobless
American Samoa’s last remaining tuna cannery is cutting its work force by another 600-800 people to keep up with global competition.
StarKist Co. said this will shrink its American Samoa work force to fewer than 1,200 employees, down from a high of more than 3,000 in 2008.
StarKist CEO Don Binotto said Thursday it’s difficult to compete when workers’ wages are nearly 10 times those of its competitors in Thailand and other countries.
The Pacific territory’s tuna industry has been hit hard by a 2007 federal law mandating the same minimum wage laws that apply to the 50 states
Chicken of the Sea closed its cannery in September, citing the minimum wage law.
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