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Council will discuss displaced Tuna Processing workers concerns

Helping to find jobs for them: ASG, StarKist Samoa, Hawai’i’s United Fishing Agency
fili@samoanews.com

A Honolulu-based fishery company has reached out to Tri Marine International for possible transition of workers who were laid off last December when Tri Marine’s Samoa Tuna Processors Inc., cannery was shut down — to work in Hawai’i.

The STP workforce transition is among the issues expected for discussion during the three-day 169th Meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council that opens today at the Ala Moana Hotel, according to the draft agenda of the meeting.

As previously reported by Samoa News, some 700 workers at STP were laid off when the cannery shut down operations on Dec. 16, 2016. While a few of them have been able to find either part time or full time jobs there are still more of the displaced workers looking for full-time work.

The “American Samoa Community Activities” report prepared and released more than a week ago, for the Council meeting, includes the STP workforce transition issue, which focuses on Hawai’i’s United Fishing Agency, StarKist Samoa and the American Samoa Government to assist Tri Marine in helping those workers find employment.

On ASG’s part, the report points out that the government has initiated a program to assist former employees of STP in finding work – either with the government or in the private sector. ASG has assisted 143 total workers in gaining employment in the private sector thus far, the report says.

As reported earlier last month by Samoa News, the former STP workers will be employed 6 hours a day, no more then 30 hours a week, with an hourly rate of $5 for the one month.

The temporary jobs were for one month and can be extended based on availability of federal funds, while the Department of Human Resources is working on completing an application for submission to the US Department of Labor’s National Dislocated Worker Grants, which replaced the National Emergency Grant (NEG) program, to obtain federal assistance to helped displaced workers.

The report to the Council went on to explain that the United Fishing Agency had reached out to STP last year to look into the possibility of transitioning workers from STP to the Fish Auction at Pier 38 in Honolulu. United Fishing Agency has been in constant contact with STP providing job descriptions and helping to facilitate potential transfers.

According to the report, United Fishing Agency plans on visiting STP in April to follow up on recruitment of some of those workers.

Samoa News has heard from several STP workers, who say that many of them are still holding out hope that another company will take over the STP cannery, so that they can return to full time work.