OSHA rep investigates cause of Daewoosa melee.

 A representative of the U.S. Department of Labor is investigating the cause of Tuesday morning’s melee at Daewoosa Samoa that left one worker seriously injured. Dan Mooney of the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) arrived Monday night initially to investigate the death of a man some two weeks ago at a construction site in the Western District.

 However, the Daewoosa melee caught his attention and he was at the garment factory’s compound yesterday talking to Samoan workers and company officials, sources told the Samoa News last night.

 OSHA is the federal agency charged with making sure that working conditions in the 50 states and U.S. territories are up to standards with federal regulations.

 The same agency also stepped into the picture last year when Daewoosa first became the center of local and federal investigations for alleged mistreatment of its Vietnamese workers. OSHA’s Honolulu District Office declined to comment on the new investigation and Mooney could not be reached for comments.

 Among those interviewed by Mooney, according to sources, was Daewoosa’s floor supervisor Nu’uuli Ioane who was at the center of Tuesday’s incident.

 The sources told Samoa News that Ioane was asked about the relationships among the Vietnamese workers, the relationships among the Samoan workers and the relations between the Samoans and Vietnamese.

 Some of the information provided to Mooney has never been made public before, such as the problems that occurred between the Vietnamese themselves in which they end up fighting among themselves, just to name a few.

 Ioane was also asked about what has occurred on Tuesday.

 On the other hand, sources said, Mooney asked other Daewoosa officials and employees about Ioane’s performances as a supervisor and his attitude towards other workers.

 Besides OSHA, investigators from the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigative Division were also at Daewoosa factory yesterday conducting their investigation and talking to some of the Samoan workers including Ioane. Reportedly the investigators were also taking photos of any marks suffered during the melee.

 Governor Tauese Sunia has already called on DPS Commissioner Te’o J. Fuavai for a complete and thorough investigation into this matter.

 The Samoa News also learned that the Vietnamese workers were to have met last night to decide on whether they would endorse the creation of two work shifts, one with Samoan workers and one with Vietnamese workers.

 The Vietnamese workers are telling their superiors that they are afraid of working with the Samoan workers and they would not work together. However, the Vietnamese workers continue to roam the streets looking for outside work.

 Sources further said that the Vietnamese workers and their Samoan counterparts were set to meet yesterday morning along with the Daewoosa management and a representative of the Vietnamese government delegation that arrived early this week.

 The meeting was to "patch things up". However, while the Samoan workers were waiting for about one hour, they were told that the Vietnamese workers refuse to meet again because they are afraid.

 But three Samoans workers told the Samoa News last night that they have no intention of getting things worse, because "the Samoans didn’t do anything wrong from the beginning and we are not going to make things worse."

 What the Samoan workers are faced with now is the backlash from the local community. "We are being called murderers by our own Samoan people and they don’t even understand what occurred on Tuesday," said the workers. This occurred on Wednesday and again yesterday.

 The workers said they have also been called other names that cannot be printed. They said local non-Samoans have created a verbal attack on them.
 
 

ASG officials meet with Daewoosa officials.

 American Samoa Government (ASG) officials met Wednesday morning with Daewoosa Samoa officials over various issues including its financial condition and Tuesday morning’s melee. The company’s ailing financial condition and its bleak prospects, and its labor problems, are a serious concern to the ASG.

 The ASG was represented at the meeting by Commerce director Aliimau "JR" Scanlan, the Governor’s Legal Counsel Henry Kappel, and Commerce staffers.

 Daewoosa was represented by owner-president Kil-Soo Lee, manager Virginia Soli’ai, and other officials.

 The meeting was held before the government learned from a visiting group of Vietnamese officials that Daewoosa has once again fallen behind in paying wages to its 250 Vietnamese workers.

 (See separate story on the meeting between ASG and the Vietnamese government officials.)

 "Basically we want to know the financial status of the company and if they have complied with past arrangements in repayment of its land leases and how they will resolve the problems with its Vietnamese work force," Aliimau explained.

 ASG also wants to know what will be done to secure the return of Daewoosa’s Vietnamese workers if anything happens to the company.

 Was the government satisfied with Daewoosa’s answers?

 "We talked about the future of the company and we expressed concern for its financial viability," replied Kappel. "However, nothing was said in the meeting that would resolve our concern with the company’s financial condition."

 "The financial viability of Daewoosa Samoa remains a serious concern and to me, its the payroll," Aliimau added. "Its very important to us that the company honor their contract to its workers and pay them in a timely manner."

 Daewoosa is also behind on the land-lease payments for its Tafuna site, despite several opportunities granted by the ASG for the company to catch up.

 Daewoosa owes the government more than $140,000. "The government is now going to re-evaluate its position and it is possible that we will ask Daewoosa to pay off the back lease payments in full," said Aliimau, who is also the chairman of the Real Property Management Board.

 "It’s not fair to other tenants who are paying their leases while, Daewoosa is getting free rent," he added.

 As to Daewoosa’s problems with its Vietnamese workers, Lee told the ASG officials that he anticipates resolving those problems and other labor-related concerns when he meets with a visiting group of Vietnamese government officials.

 The Vietnamese officials represent Tourism Company 12, a government-owned entity that recruits and contracts out workers to companies like Daewoosa.

 Aliimau said Lee mentioned that if the Vietnamese labor issue is not resolved, he will import workers from China and South Korea.

 "That’s what Daewoosa might want but that is not what the American Samoa Government wants," Aliimau said. "Which means there is no guarantee that ASG will agree to this provision. "It was however made clear to Mr. Lee that Daewoosa Samoa must meet the terms of its contract with ASG to train local workers and phase-out its imported workers," he continued. "And we see no effort by Daewoosa to meet this important provision of the contract," he added.

 Conditions for allowing imported workers from Vietnam was based on the provisions that they will train local workers with the locals making up the majority of the company’s workforce. But two years later, the company continues to import Vietnamese workers, while the percentage of the local workforce remains low.

 The most recent information received by the Samoa News shows that the current Daewoosa Samoa workforce includes 250 Vietnamese, 11 Chinese and 46 Samoans.
 
 

Vietnam government officials meet with ASG officials.

 Several Vietnamese government officials flew into the Territory last Monday night to meet with Daewoosa Samoa officials over the beleaguered company’s chronic inability to pay the wages due its Vietnamese workers.

 According to the officials, the past-due unpaid wages total about $325,000 and they want it paid in full as soon as possible.

 This no-nonsense information was presented in a meeting yesterday morning between the four foreign officials and American Samoa Government officials Commerce director Aliimau JR Scanlan and the Governor’s Legal Counsel Henry Kappel.

 The visiting officials work for the Vietnam government-owned National Administration of Tourism-Tourism Company 12, the agency that recruits and contracts out Vietnamese workers to Daewoosa who pays the workers their wages.

 The group is headed by a woman identified only as Miss Mai, a vice director of the company. According to the ASG officials, the visitors were shocked by Tuesday morning’s spontaneous combustion at the garment factory. They were completely unprepared for the incident and its fall-out including the loss of a worker’s left eye that had been severely damaged during the melee.

 A source who asked for anonymity told Samoa News that the violence may have been partly provoked by the workers’ anticipation of the arrival of a tour company representative from Vietnam.

 The source added, however, that there was disappointment among the workers when they mistakenly thought the rep had not arrived Monday night.

 During yesterday morning’s meeting, Miss Mai broke down in tears when Ali’imau expressed the local government’s condolences and extreme concern over the injuries sustained by Daewoosa worker Ms. Quyen during the melee.

 Miss Mai had apparently spent Wednesday night at the hospital with Miss Quyen who had undergone surgery Tuesday night after the melee but LBJ’s eye specialist was unable to save her eye which will be replaced with a prosthetic eye.

 According to Kappel, the meeting confirmed two points: that the Vietnamese government was concerned about the welfare of its local workers, and that Daewoosa has again fallen behind in paying wages to its 250 Vietnamese workers.

 Kappel said that Daewoosa owes about $325,000 in back wages and "we have advised the Vietnamese officials that the local government will do all possible to assist them in collecting the back wages because of the wage and hour laws."

 Kappel told Samoa News that the Vietnamese government also has other issues to take up directly with Daewoosa.

 "However, we are unable to help them in these particular issues and the visitors have secured a local lawyer to assist them in settling those issues," he added.

 Both Kappel and Aliimau said the Governor had instructed them to first investigate the non-payment of wages and lend assistance in any way possible to resolve this reoccurring problem "of unpaid wages to the Vietnamese workers".

 Aliimau said he is even more concerned now with the Daewoosa workers, based on the new information that came to light from the Vietnamese delegation of the unpaid back wages.

 "This is disturbing news and the Governor wants to see it resolved," the Commerce director said.

 Aliimau told Samoa News that he had visited Miss Quyen in her hospital room and presented her with flowers and official condolences on behalf of the people of American Samoa and its government.

 In June, the U.S. Department of Labor fined Daewoosa and company owner Kil-Soo Lee $213,000 for repeated violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and ordered them to pay $367,000 in back wages to 213 workers, most of them from Vietnam.

 The Vietnamese delegation is scheduled to meet with Governor Tauese Sunia this morning. It is not immediately known what the meeting agenda will include.
 
 

"Allow everyone to breathe…"

 Watching the continuing saga at Daewoosa escalate into a bloody mess leaves little hope that such companies could ever make it in Samoa.

 One of Daewoosa’s workers lost an eye, allegedly by the hand of a fellow worker. It’s a sad battle scene from the continuing war being fought on our shores. Part of this war has to do with basic human rights, but more so with power and freedom. There’s freedom with power. Likewise, with a certain amount of freedom comes a certain amount of power and of course… corruption.

 Granted, Daewoosa’s workers are aggravated by their company’s continuing problems but I’ve witnessed the ignorance some of the foreign workers display. Have they been trained to understand the laws that govern them here?

 I doubt that these people, including their leaders, have ever experienced the freedom we take for granted as U.S. citizens They were never allowed to voice negative opinions about their leaders or government before tasting of our freedom of speech.

 Now they’re taking them to court. They would be put in jail for refusing to obey an order of a superior. Now they’re fighting for their right to refuse unfair labor practices. They may never have considered breaking free from a man-made God that cannot see nor hear their cries over their plight in this land of freedom of religion. Now some of them attend Christian Churches regularly and have denounced Buddha. Is it our money’s inscription… "In God we Trust?" Coming from a country that suppresses human rights to a place that expresses personal freedom is not always an easy transition. The fight for freedom is exactly that - a fight. As host country, proud of our freedom, we are responsible for bringing them in from communism to democracy; from forced labor to equal employment opportunities. We were born free; they weren’t. We know what’s allowed in our societies and what’s not; they don’t.

 The battlefield for equal rights is our courtrooms; not our factory floors. Who’s their sponsor? Please educate them. Freedom does not give them the right to steal, lie and cheat. Freedom does not allow them to be unobservant and rude. Neither guest nor host should take the other’s freedom away. There may not be enough money to go around - especially for Daewoosa - but there’s enough freedom in the air to allow everyone to breathe a little easier under our flags.

 Will the fight for freedom cause people to lose sight? The Vietnamese, Chinese & Samoan workers are the victims. The focus should remain on the real culprit - Daewoosa!

 Regards,

 Rev. Samuel Unutoa, Pastor
Tafuna United Pentecostal Church
 
 

Off-island Vietnamese communities seeking answers.

 The news of Tuesday’s melee between Daewoosa Samoa’s Vietnamese and Samoan workers has spread to the US mainland ? much to the detriment of American Samoa.

 Unfortunately for the Territory, much of what is passing as fact off-island is really misinformation based on hearsay and third-hand accounts that are being e-mailed and faxed to various media outlets.

 The Governor’s Office, and the Samoa News, has been receiving long-distance calls requesting either information or a public statement about the incident which seriously injured one worker.

 Even Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin’s office is not immune to the requests for information.

 According to the Congressman, his office has logged in calls from numerous Vietnamese communities on the West Coast and the East Coast.

 "I am very concern about this issue at hand," said Faleomavaega when reached by telephone last night. "Not only for the safety of any person working in American Samoa, but getting any worse as being mistakenly used or regarded as a race issue.

 "I think its behooves the leaders of American Samoa to finally realize that here is a classic example of a Korean-owned company who is hiring Vietnamese workers and then treating them badly," Faleomavaega points out. "This is done in other Asian countries and its happening here.

 "I blame the Daewoosa management and administration for this problem," he told Samoa News.

 Faleomavaega said he discussed the Daewoosa issue with Governor Tauese Sunia yesterday morning and they both shared the same concerns.

 The Congressman said that efforts are now been coordinated with his colleagues in Congress so the message could be relayed back to their Vietnamese constituents. "Like you said, there are always two sides of the story," said Faleomavaega referring to yesterday’s Samoa News front page story, that told a Samoan worker’s side of what happened on Tuesday.

 Faleomavaega said he has already received calls from politicians in several Vietnamese communities, including the two major ones in California and Virginia.

 "What I have to do now is to make the Vietnamese communities in the U.S. aware that they need to hear the other side of the story," he reflected. "This is not a racial issue ? it is a labor-economic situation where the Vietnamese workers have the right to complain to management for noncompliance of whatever it was promised to them."

 The Congressman also pointed out that Daewoosa’s future is really in the hands of the Governor and his administration. The Governor, he added, will have to make some strong decisions such as the ability of Daewoosa to continue operations in the territory using foreign workers who refuse to work with Samoans.

 He said another issue for the local government to look at is the financial stability of Daewoosa to continue to do business in the Territory and for the proper federal agency to investigate why the company is not paying the required wages to workers.

 "I wonder if Daewoosa has strong capital backing or not," he added. He however is thankful to the Governor for requesting a full investigation into the matter.

 He said the Department of Labor should also conduct an investigation into the rights of the workers, the causes of these problems and why the workers are been treated the way they are right now.

 The Congressman is also disturbed about reports of the Vietnamese workers roaming the streets, asking for jobs in the local community. "This is suppose to be against their contract," he pointed out.

 He recommends that the company be closed and the Vietnamese workers be paid any wages due them including their airfares for return home.

 The Vietnamese workers are now being represented in the court by the U’una’i Legal Service.

 "The biggest irony to me about this case is that, here is a law firm, funded by federal funds, assisting foreigners, but not local needy people with low-incomes," the Congressman concluded.
 
 

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