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in Taiwan Home PageThere are generally more than one side to a story…
Yesterday, Samoa News presented the Vietnamese workers side of the melee at the Daewoosa Samoa garment factory in Tafuna.
Today, Samoa News presents the Samoan side of the same incident with an exclusive interview with the man who was at the center, if not the flashpoint, of the fight.
Nu’uuli Ioane is an assistant production manager and floor supervisor for Daewoosa Samoa. He agreed to the interview because he wanted to set the record straight. He called the harsh allegations made by the Vietnamese workers untrue in many instances, if not all. As I made my way inside the company compound yesterday morning, I was told that the Vietnamese workers’ attorneys, Virginia Sudbury and Christa Lin, had arrived just minutes before I did.
After Tuesday’s melee, according to Sudbury, she had advised her clients that they should not return to work until further notice.
With Sudbury and Lin in the compound, the Vietnamese workers who chose to remain after the fight came out of their dormitory to watch the goings-on.
Though the exact number is not immediately known, many of the Vietnamese workers have left the compound and are staying with local families "because they are terrified", Sudbury told Samoa News.
While I waited for Nu’uuli, I saw Sudbury walking around the factory and came to the door of the factory. She asked a "security guard" for her name but the woman refused to answer her due to company policy.
Sudbury replied out loud that this employee is refusing to cooperate, but Nu’uuli pointed out that new policies, prompted by Tuesday’s incident, barred employees from making any statements to outsiders, including giving out their names, without permission.
Eventually, the two attorneys left the factory which is now empty of all Vietnamese workers. Only the Chinese and Samoan workers showed up to work yesterday to continue to meet the company’s 100,000 piece order that needs to go out in two weeks.
First of all, Nu’uuli vehemently denied that Daewoosa owner-president Kil-Soo Lee had told his Samoan workers to beat up their Vietnamese co-workers.
Secondly, the Vietnamese’s unwillingness to work, such as what happened on Tuesday, is nothing new. That attitude has happened before.
Thirdly, as a supervisor, he treats all the company’s employees equally - the Vietnamese, Samoans and Chinese . And when an employee is not performing his or her assigned job, that employee is asked to go home and his or her time for that day is canceled.
Nu’uuli claims the Vietnamese workers slack off on the job while the Samoans more often than not abide by the rules, even when they are sent home or suspended for not "doing their job".
"When I ask the Vietnamese why they are not working, their excuses are: ‘I don’t care; I don’t know; I don’t understand’," Nu’uuli points out.
Understandably, he added, this creates a problem for him because then the Samoans tend to think that he is not as strict and policy-abiding with the Vietnamese workers as he is with them.
"I tell the Samoan workers that they still have to work and do their job, no matter what the Vietnamese workers are doing," said Nu’uuli noting that another excuse/reason used constantly by the Vietnamese when asked a question is that the company should ask their lawyer [Sudbury or Lin].
As an additional example, Nu’uuli recalled a recent incident in which Daewoosa manager Virginia Soliai came into the factory and found some Vietnamese workers not doing their work. When she told them to get the work done, the Vietnamese workers started to argue back.
"During this incident, one Vietnamese man went after Virginia with a pair of scissors," he told Samoa News. Fortunately, he added, she was not injured.
Nu’uuli said this matter was brought to company owner Kil Soo Lee’s attention. "I told Mr. Lee that this problem is getting worse and should be resolve, but the workers keep saying to ‘talk to their lawyer’," Nu’uuli recalled. "But this is a work place not a courtroom!"
In a meeting about the same issue on Tuesday, prior to the melee, Nu’uuli recalled that Mr. Lee told him that he does not want any fighting among the workers because if someone is hurt, he will not be responsible for it.
He told Samoa News that this statement has been incorrectly re-stated by the Vietnamese, possibly for their own purposes, who are now claiming that Mr. Lee had initially ordered their being beaten up by the Samoan workers.
Nu’uuli said Mr. Lee’s English is not that good but he understood it. "Mr. Lee never ordered anyone beaten up, then or now," he reiterated.
About an hour after that meeting with Mr. Lee, Nu’uuli said that while making rounds of the factory, he saw two Vietnamese workers sitting on the working tables. One of the workers was Miss Quyen who was seriously injured later during the melee.
The floor supervisor recalled that he asked them why they were not working and the two women replied, "they don’t know and they don’t understand."
He then told them to go on back to the dorm but they refused.
"So I asked them to go help with the other side," Nu’uuli said.
While the two allegedly continued to refuse to do any work, Nu’uuli said he went to see the Vietnamese manager about the recurring insubordination problem but unfortunately it could not be resolved at that time.
He again asked the two women to do some work but he got the same reply from them, that "they don’t understand and don’t care".
In keeping with company policy, Nu’uuli called a security guard to escort the two women to clock-out for the day and then out of the factory.
"I took hold of the woman’s (Miss Quyen) hand to lead her out of the factory but she keeps shaking off my hand," recalled Nu’uuli, adding that as the pair was being guided out of the production room, he noticed the rest of the Vietnamese women had left their working stations and were following them.
About 50 yards away from Miss Quyen’s working station, Nu’uuli said he was slapped by the woman while being punched in the back of his head, allegedly by a Vietnamese man. At the same time, he also heard a Samoan worker calling from the back of the factory "to watch out for the scissors behind you".
As Nu’uuli ducked to the side, the thrusted scissors cut him on his right cheek and three Vietnamese men jump him and he ended up on the ground with Vietnamese workers all over him.
Nu’uuli said several Samoan workers saw the attack on him and came running to his aid, "to pull away the Vietnamese worker but not to beat anyone".
Nu’uuli ended up fighting off the three Vietnamese men in defense.
How Miss Quyen became injured, he did not know until later. He denies ever hitting her or injuring her or even dragging her by the scruff of her neck or the back of her t-shirt, as being alleged by the Vietnamese workers.
Nu’uuli also said that during the melee, one Samoan woman was attacked by three Vietnamese co-workers with scissors and the woman suffered a cut and a broken finger. "The Vietnamese came with scissors and cutters but the Samoan workers only came to stop the fight and pulled the Vietnamese off of me," he remembered.
According to Nu’uuli, the Samoan workers thought he was either seriously injured or dead because of the profuse bleeding from his right cheek and the way the melee was happening.
"But the Samoans came to rescue me and pulled the Vietnamese away," Nu’uuli reiterated. "I will never forget their assistance.
"The Vietnamese said that the Samoans were carrying weapons," he pointed out. "But that is not true because the Samoans work in an area where there are no scissors, cutters or sharp items. They are in the packing area with boxes and tapes."
At the Western Substation, he was shocked at the false statements the Vietnamese were presenting through translators to the police, particularly the allegations that the Samoans were armed to attack them and that Mr. Lee had ordered that they be beaten up.
"That is so untrue!" he recalled, shaking his head.
Several other Samoan workers were interviewed by the police but Samoa News was unable to obtain those statements for publication or inclusion in this story.
"The Samoans work hard, they hardly complain and they have to
follow the policies set by the company," said Nu’uuli.
Daewoosa Samoa’s Vietnamese workers filed suit yesterday in the High Court seeking air fares for their return to Vietnam.
Prompted by Tuesday’s fight in the factory, the suit has been brought against Daewoosa Samoa and its owner-president Kil-Soo Lee.
It also seeks an expedited hearing and the requested hearing date is Monday, December 4th. The court has not yet confirmed that date on its calendar.
"The workers are terrified," the suit stated. "They are afraid to leave their rooms, and are not going to work at the factory. They feel that they will receive no formal protection from defendant Lee.
"They are afraid not only of defendant Lee, but of the Samoan workers as well," the suit continued. "They are fearful for their safety, and for their lives; they want to receive their owed wages but more immediately, they wish to return to their home country."
The suit outlines Tuesday morning’s unfortunate turn of events that led to the melee and its fall-out. The information provided to the court is based entirely on the sworn statements of several of the Vietnamese workers, much of which was publicized in Wednesday’s edition of Samoa News.
The suit also indicates that the Vietnamese workers are now being represented for the first time by U’una’i Legal Services Corporation rather than the Law Office of Virginia Sudbury, Esq.
However, the representing attorneys will continue to be Sudbury and Christa Lin. Sudbury is also director of U’una’i which is a private non-profit legal services organization that is funded by a federal grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
U’una’i is set up to provide civil legal assistance to eligible,
low-income persons, particularly those who cannot afford a lawyer.
Governor Tauese Sunia has requested "a complete, thorough and fair investigation" into the melee that occurred at the Daewoosa Samoa compound in Tafuna Tuesday morning. The request was sent to Commissioner of Public Safety Te’o J. Fuavai in a brief memo yesterday morning.
A Vietnamese woman lost her left eye after it had been seriously injured during the melee between Daewoosa’s Samoan and Vietnamese workers.
"As you might expect, the unfortunate incident at the Daewoosa garment factory concerns me greatly," the Governor told Te’o. "Not only is harm to human beings involved, but also several very sensitive issues.
"Please ensure that a complete, thorough and fair investigation into all of the allegations is conducted and completed in a most expeditious manner and the results of the investigation forwarded to the Attorney General," Tauese added.
The Governor also asked Te’o to keep him informed of the progress in this matter. The company has been plagued with problems with its Vietnamese workers, primarily over the continuing issue of non-payment of full wages for time worked.
In the meantime, Daewoosa manager Virginia C. Soliai presented the American Samoa Government with an official statement from the company of what occurred on Tuesday. The one-page statement, was presented during a meeting late yesterday morning between ASG and Daewoosa officials.
ASG was represented by Commerce director Ali’imau JR Scanlan, DOC officials Alex Zodiacal and Fofo Tony Tuitele and the Governor’s legal counsel Henry Kappel. Daewoosa Samoa was represented by company president Kil-Soo Lee, Soliai and another official.
Tuesday’s incident only served to heightened the tension between the government and the local garment manufacturer during the meeting which had initially been scheduled prior to the incident.
The government officials were seeking a status report of Daewoosa’s operations, where it stands financially and the company’s future plans in dealing with its Vietnamese workers, among other issues.
But the melee became an unexpected agenda item.
Soli’ai’s official statement is similar to assistant production manager Nu’uuli Ioane’s statement concerning the turn of events Tuesday morning.
(See separate story on Mr. Ioane’s statement.)
In the statement, Soli’ai first admits that she was outside at the main gate with Daewoosa owner Kil-Soo Lee. Then she recounts that she had been called in to the production area because of some problem.
As she entered the room, she saw Ioane trying to escort a worker he had been arguing with out of the production area because she had refused to work.
Soliai said that the girl refused to do what Nu’uuli had asked and the girl "then turned around and slapped Nu’uuli in the face, at the same time the Vietnamese workers - from the Ironing Department - all rushed out to Nu’uuli with scissors, the boys first rushed out, they strike at him (Nu’uuli) from behind, they scratched, all come up to him at once.
"I then rushed in to the aid of my floor supervisor, Nu’uuli, because they were all involved in a big fight," Soli’ai wrote.
Soli’ai alleges that it was the Vietnamese workers that instigated the fight "when they first came up with their scissors and slashed Nu’uuli in the face".
She added that the Samoan workers came to help Nu’uuli and she tried to stop the fight. Soliai also dismissed allegations that Lee ordered the beating of Vietnamese workers. Asked for comments after the meeting with Daewoosa officials, both Kappel and Ali’imau said it was premature for the government to make any official statement on what happened while an investigation is underway.
Kappel said what happened and who did what should be resolved
during the course of the investigation. Ali’imau said that the meeting
was also to get Daewoosa’s side of the story in the matter.
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