Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — StarKist Samoa management is patiently awaiting a decision from the Catholic Church Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, on their proposal to build housing for guest worker employees on church land they are currently leasing at Atu’u.

The piece of land for the proposed housing project is located in Atu’u across from the Samoa Tuna Processors Plant and is the site of the old Marist Brothers School for boys.

In an interview with senior cannery official Tufuga Faafo’i Palepua, he stated that negotiations with the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago on their proposal took place earlier this year and they remain hopeful that the church will give them the green light.

He said after lengthy discussions, the StarKist management decided not to lease government land but instead pursue church approval to build their housing project at Atu’u.

Tufuga pointed out that this was the better option as Atu’u is the ideal location where the employees would be able to walk the short distance from their living quarters to the canneries, and save the company from paying additional daily travel expenses.

The matter was first brought up by the Samoa government during the Atoa-o-Samoa Talks in 2022 with the argument that guest workers from Samoa and other Pacific Island countries selected to work in New Zealand and Australia under the Seasonal Work Scheme, are provided housing by their employers.

This is one of the of the requirements for employers in these countries under the scheme and they must provide housing where workers can live together in conditions similar to a village setting.

Likewise, Samoa reasoned that the same should be done by employers in American Samoa for guest workers from Samoa. Incidentally, StarKist is the Territory’s largest employer and is the backbone of the economy.

Samoa is the only country from which American Samoa hires guest workers, with StarKist as the employer obliged to handle the usual immigration clearance process requirements.

Tufuga said that once they get green light from the Catholic Church, construction will hopefully commence before the end of the year.