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in Taiwan Home PagePolice are investigating a minor incident that occurred at the Daewoosa Samoa compound Saturday morning in which four Vietnamese workers allegedly beat other Vietnamese workers inside a dorm room.
Those involved in the alleged altercation were taken to the Western Substation in Tafuna for questioning after Daewoosa Samoa officials on duty heard crying and screaming from dorm room #5 and called police.
Police said on Saturday that they are investigating the case and referred questions to the Commissioner’s Office.
Daewoosa's assistant production manager Nu’uuli Ioane told the Samoa News on Saturday that he suspects the incident may have been triggered by the fact that some of the Vietnamese workers returned to the production line on Friday over the protests of a majority of the boycotting Vietnamese workers.
Since the Nov. 28th melee at the Tafuna garment plant, none of the Vietnamese workers have returned to work while the Samoan workforce continued working to meet sailing deadlines but took two weeks off without pay for the holidays.
Right after the melee, many of the dissenting workers moved out of the compound claiming to be fearful for their lives from alleged Samoan retaliation which never occurred. A majority of the workers have returned to live in the compound.
Ioane said when production resumed last Friday, six Vietnamese workers showed up to work in the afternoon and all worked until 7 p.m. On Saturday, the same six showed up followed by eight others.
Ioane said working until 7 p.m. was a request from the group of Vietnamese workers that returned to work because they were fearful of what might happen to them for going to work against the will of the rest of the boycotting Vietnamese workers.
During Saturday's lunch time, when the workers returned to their rooms, three of them were allegedly beatened by four other Vietnamese workers who were allegedly waiting for them.
Ioane speculates that the cause of the problem is a female ring leader of the Vietnamese workers who does not want anyone to work unless she says its okay.
Ioane said he identified four workers who he saw were pushing the three girls. The four were taken into custody by police, according to Ioane.
One of the three victims was also taken into police custody and she and another worker that allegedly administered the beating were held for 24 hours and released yesterday afternoon to the compound.
According to Ioane, the other two victims were taken to the hospital for treatment with one released Saturday evening and the second released yesterday afternoon.
Ioane said one of the girls was complaining of pain in her head and stomach allegedly caused by the beating. There were also scratches, according to Ioane, and he alleged that the mastermind of the beating tried to brake the arm of one of the girls.
According to Ioane, something like this happened a while back against another Vietnamese girl for disobeying the alleged ringleader’s wish. Ioane also claims that there are fights among the Vietnamese workers themselves in their dorm rooms.
Ioane said more Vietnamese workers want to return to work but are afraid of going up against the ringleader or leaders of the group.
"I told these girls that nothing with happen to them and if something
comes up, we will call police," said Ioane. "But still, some of the workers
who want to work are a bit scared."
As far as Daewoosa Samoa is concerned, the company owes its workers very little.
The company disputes the workers’ claim that they are owed a substantial amount of back wages, including almost all of their $408/month contract pay from May 2000 to the present time.
Company manager Virginia Soliai told Samoa News the company owes only five cents an hour, which is the difference between their contract pay of $408 a month, and a small increase in the legal minimum wage that went into effect last September, when the minimum wage for garment plants went from $2.55 an hour to $2.60 an hour.
Daewoosa Samoa owner and president Kil-Soo Lee made the same point during a meeting with Governor Tauese Sunia at the company’s compound on Dec. 7th.
At that meeting, Lee said if the company uses the contract terms approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, the company does not owe the workers any money. Moreover, he said that if the company used the original Vietnamese contract, it is the workers who owe Daewoosa money (not the other way around).
The dispute will be presumably be considered by the High Court, which has held an ever expanding series of hearings on Daewoosa matters over the past few years.
A hearing will also consider the workers’ claim that Daewoosa and Lee should be held in contempt of court for failing to abide by a December 14 court order.
That order required Daewoosa to pay any salary in arrears, and to arrange and pay for travel to Vietnam for at least 35 workers by no later than December 28 (see separate story).
"None of the Plaintiffs have received the full amount of their contractual wages," said a court document filed by the workers’ attorney, Virginia Sudbury, on January 2.
As for the travel home, which is of concern to Governor Tauese Sunia, Daewoosa’s manager Virginia Soliai told the Samoa News last Thursday that the company’s lawyer (Aitofele Sunia) is still putting together the list of Vietnamese workers to be returned home.
Alleged non-payment of back-wages to Daewoosa employees is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which sent inspectors to American Samoa (not for the first time) a few days after the Nov. 28th melee at the garment plant.
George Friday, Regional Administrator of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, said in a telephone interview from San Francisco on Thursday that his inspectors have returned home (to the U.S.) for the holidays.
"However, there is still an ongoing investigation for a certain period of time," said Friday. "We are now examining the facts gathered and will make a determination."
And if required, DOL will dispatch another team of investigators to the territory. Daewoosa said they have been cooperating with the investigation.
Once the investigation is completed, Friday said there are certain recommendations and issues that can be made public under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the meantime, the Department of Labor has slapped an embargo
on Daewoosa, which prevents it from exporting or selling any of the goods
it produces in American Samoa.
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