I've got a wingnut on my ass, need help

[CatWoman]

can someone tell me why American Samoa was exempt from minimum wage increase?

I need to kick this wingnut in his ass:


By Paul

January 12, 2007 01:40 PM | Link to this

Still no justification of Pelosi’s exploiting American Samoa workers to increase the profitabililty of a large corporation located in her district?

And the difference between a Pelosi and a big business Republican is what, exactly? That the Republican admits it?

[Atman]

1. Try hydrocortisone

Should clear up in a couple of days.

.

[Goblinmonger]

3. I was going to suggest pliers n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Industrial strength Raid works on bloodsucking parasites.

You might want to try spraying a small amount, in a small inconspicuous area, to see if it ruins the material that the parasites are afflicting.

Edit...That's exactly why I wear a flea collar.

[stonecoldsober]

2. I'd ask for proof

[jobycom]

4. Democrats exempted American Samoa. Republicans exempted everyone.

Seems like the wing-nut needs to try a little harder to make a point before you have to make one.

[CatWoman]

6. Jobycom

LOL

That's an excellent answer :rofl:

[rpgamerd00d]

5. HERE IS THE ULTIMATE REPLY.

You forgot that StarKist has commercials with that "Charlie Tuna" character, who's voice is portrayed by voice actor Herschel Bernardi, who starred in Woody Allens movie "The Front", and that Woody also directed Sean Penn in "Sweet and Lowdown", who also starred in "Mystic River" with Kevin Bacon.

Please. You have no proof that the two things are related, you're just making total SUPPOSITION with NO FACTS WHATSOEVER.

[rpgamerd00d]

14. No Love for my "7 Degress of Kevin Bacon" reply? :(

I worked hard on that one...

:)

[stevedeshazer]

20. It made me laugh

There ya go.

[CatWoman]

32. LOL

Ok, giving it love.

giving it love.

:loveya:

:rofl:

[Hamlette]

26. You be making me laugh all day gamerdude

your answer gets my vote.

(edited to add I posted this even BEFORE gamer called for applause.)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Hmm

"In a statement in response today, Faleomavaega (American Samoa delegate) said "despite recent claims made by the Washington Post which suggest that American Samoa is exempt from the federal minimum wage process, I wish to set the record straight."
He says since 1956, the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor has conducted Special Industry Committees every two years in American Samoa to determine minimum wage increases.

"While these Industry Committees have been phased out in other US Territories due to their more diversified economies, American Samoa continues to be a single industry economy. In fact, more than 80% of our private sector economy is dependent either directly, or indirectly, on two U.S. tuna processors, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist. As has been repeatedly stated at our Special Industry Committees, a decrease in production or departure of one or both of the two canneries in American Samoa could devastate the local economy resulting in massive layoffs and insurmountable financial difficulties," the Congressman says.

"For this very reason, I do not support efforts to apply mainland minimums to American Samoa at this time. The truth is the global tuna industry is so competitive that it is no longer possible for the federal government to demand mainland minimum wage rates for American Samoa without causing the collapse of our economy and making us welfare wards of the federal government."

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2007/01/11/america-samoa-and-federal-wage-hike

[CatWoman]

9. God I love you

thanks!!!

:hi:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Ooooh my!

[CatWoman]

18. LOLOLOLOLOL

:rofl:

Professor Farnsworth posts on DU!!!

Who woulda thought??

:rofl:

[myrna minx]

47. Good News Everyone! CatWoman loves Bornaginhooligan!

:rofl:

[CatWoman]

48. LOLOLOLOL

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

49. ...

[WinstonSmith4740]

28. How much you wanna bet...

that your wing-nut friend will twist this statement?

"However, I continue to believe it is a crying shame that for years StarKist's parent company, Heinz, paid its corporate executives over $30 million per year in salary and stock options and bonuses while workers in American Samoa have not been paid decent wages on scale with our local economy."

Because the parent company is Heinz, I guarantee by the week-end, this will be all over the wing-nut blogs about how John Kerry is a hypocrite, since "everyone" KNOWS his wife owns Heinz, right?;-)

BTW, thanks bornaginhooligan!! I'm sure I'll be hearing the same argument from my sister-in-law anytime now, and now I'll be able to nail her back immediately!:headbang:

[Pab Sungenis]

23. Another good reason to demand all territories adopt "all in" or "all out."

Statehood or independence. Pick one or the other. No more special benefits, and no more second class citizenship.

[stevedeshazer]

25. That's beautiful.

The righties are humping this story hard, and you've provided a near-perfect response.

[RaleighNCDUer]

30. Meaning, if they got minimum wage we'd all stop eating tuna?

Not sure that follows.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. ...

Meaning that if they got a minimum wage they'd all get laid off and we'd be eating somebody else's tuna.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. It would cost the company less to relocate the plant than to raise

the price of tuna by a nickle a can?

I don't know the economics of the area - I reckon food and housing are pretty cheap, but manufactured good have to be imported from a long way off so are probably off the scale.

Have to ask a friend, who spent a year in the Marianas with the peace corp, about it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. Would they relocate the plant?

Or just by canned tuna from some other supplier?

"I don't know the economics of the area - I reckon food and housing are pretty cheap, but manufactured good have to be imported from a long way off so are probably off the scale."

Neither do I. But I assume the America Samoa delegate does.

This is a common problem in small towns across the country, where one plant employs all the citizens. Citizens stand up for themselves, plant shuts down, everybody goes hungry. I'd imagine the solution would be tighter trade laws, so that Sunkist couldn't shut down the Samoan plant, and then raise the minimum wage.

[LSK]

8. it is not in the bill - H.R.2

Of course watch the Barney Frank video clip, the Repuke wanted to exempt the Mariana Islands from the Bill.

[JoDog]

11. Wages set by Dept. of Labor

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/americanSamoa/ASminwage.htm

"The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), applies generally to employment within American Samoa as it does to employment within the United States. The minimum wage rates for American Samoa are set by a special industry committee (29 U.S.C. 205, 29 C.F.R. Part 511) appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor, as required by the Act. The rates are set for particular industries, not for an employee's particular occupation. The rates are minimum rates (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(3)); an employer may choose to pay an employee at a rate higher than the rate(s) for its industry.

"The Act contains a number of additional requirements, including the payment of premium rates to certain covered employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek (29 U.S.C. 207), limitations on the employment of minors, and provisions relating to the Act's coverage and exceptions to and exemptions from some of the Act's general requirements."

The way I'm reading the info, American Samoa is exempted from all minimum wage laws, not just the one the house passed. The North Mariana Islands were included in the bill in an effort to shutter sweatshops on the islands.

The Saipan Tribune has an article on it too...
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=64701&cat=1

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Metric or standard?

[Joe for Clark]

15. Tell him - we have to subsidize Tuna fish - cause pretty

soon that is all we will be able to afford to eat.

Joe

[Kelly Rupert]

16. American Samoa is always exempt from the MW.

An island of 60,000 people, which depends entirely on tuna canning for its economy, and which is an hour's flight away from cheap-as-free slave labor, could not support a 125% wage increase. All that would cause is rampant inflation. The US, on the other hand, can.

[dflprincess]

17. From the Department of Labor website:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/americanSamoa/ASminwage.htm

Wage Rates in American Samoa

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), applies generally to employment within American Samoa as it does to employment within the United States. The minimum wage rates for American Samoa are set by a special industry committee (29 U.S.C. 205, 29 C.F.R. Part 511) appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor, as required by the Act. The rates are set for particular industries, not for an employee's particular occupation. The rates are minimum rates (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(3)); an employer may choose to pay an employee at a rate higher than the rate(s) for its industry.

The Act contains a number of additional requirements, including the payment of premium rates to certain covered employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek (29 U.S.C. 207), limitations on the employment of minors, and provisions relating to the Act's coverage and exceptions to and exemptions from some of the Act's general requirements.

Please be advised that an employer must pay all its employees, including casual and seasonal laborers, at a rate at least in the amount prescribed for the employer's industry. This applies even though an employee's job might appear to better correspond to the description of another industry classification. For example, an employee hired by a maritime shipping agency to provide duplication services must be paid at least the minimum rate set for the maritime shipping classification, not the lower rate that would apply to the same work if performed by an employee within the printing industry.

Industry definitions and applicable wage rates:
(29 C.F.R. Part 697, 29 U.S.C. 208, 29 U.S.C. 210(a)

Bottling, Brewing, Dairy Products
Construction
Finance and Insurance
Fish Canning & Processing
Garment Manufacturing
Government Employees
Hotel
Petroleum Marketing
Printing
Private Hospitals and Educational Institutions
Publishing
Retailing, Wholesaling & Warehousing
Ship Maintenance
Shipping and Transportation
Tour and Travel Services
Miscellaneous Activities


Every employer of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it. The content of the notice is prescribed by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor and is included in the Minimum Wage Poster for use by American Samoa employers (PDF 39K). You can view and print it using the free Adobe Acrobat® Reader™. The poster has been formatted to fit on a single, legal sized (8 1/2 inch by 14 inch) page. This approved copy has been adapted from the standard FLSA poster with modifications. It addresses the Act's particular application to employment in American Samoa and is made available for informational purposes and for employers to use as posters.

I checked on the link for garment workers and found the minimum wage for them is $2.68.

I'd bet the workers in Samoa aren't a whole lot better off than those in the Marianas and I don't think the Democrats have anything to be proud of here.

[CatWoman]

21. You guys are so smart

:)

thanks!!

[stevedeshazer]

19. He's regurgitating the Washington Times article.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm

Ask your rightie bud if he thinks it's okay to get his news from an outlet owned by that Reverend Moon guy who was crowned Humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent in the Everett Dirksen Office Building in Washington, D.C.



http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/06/21/moon/index.html

[CatWoman]

24. oh, you haven't seen anything

they were falling over themselves parroting that NY Post story attacking Barbara Boxer for kicking Condi's ass yesterday :)

[Libby2]

40. Damn

are we frequenting the same wingnut board?

[WinstonSmith4740]

31. And didn't some high level

Bushites attend this travesty? The fact in was in a federal building should have been enough to start impeachment proceedings!

[stevedeshazer]

39. The best story I've read on this is here:

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/06/21/moon/index.html

Which links to here:

http://www.politics1.com/blog-0604a.htm#crown2



Quite a cast of characters...Lindsey Graham, Stephen Covey, Harold Ford Jr., and others.

[wryter2000]

22. Here's a pre-empt on the other big lie about Nancy P.

She and her husband own a small winery, and they don't employ United Farmworkers labor. Wingnuts tried to make a biggie of that one until local CBS investigated. They found:

The Pelosis pay more than union scale.
The Pelosis are, by law, not allowed to invite an union into their workforce nor impose a union on their workforce. The only people who can do that are the workers themselves. The Pelosis' workers have never done that, so the absence or presence of the union is not their choice.

[Skittles]

27. YOU WANT I SHOULD KICK YOUR ASS, MIDORI ?

OH WAIT......:o

[CatWoman]

34. SUSAN!!!

:hi:

:loveya:

[Skittles]

38. I'm glad to see you haven't BLOCKED MY REPLIES!!!

WHAT THE F*** KIND OF SH** IS THAT? :hi:

[BurtWorm]

42. Midori? Susan?

What the hell are you two talking about, CatWoman and Skittles?

:o

[sandnsea]

29. Welcome his concern

This is actually a serious issue, refer said wingnut to Tom Delay and the Mariana sweat shops. Democrats are constantly fighting to improve conditions in these islands. What's really sickening, some of those "made in the usa" tags are actually from companies who import Chinese immigrants to work on those islands in slave conditions. Because they're US territories, we think we're supporting good union American type workers. Not so. It's what Bush's guest worker is modeled on, which is why no Democrat should support that part of immigration reform. There are plenty of workers who would want to become citizens and would then not have the same worries of losing jobs and being sent back to their country. Anyways, put the wingnut on the spot and ask him if he's going to help fight these labor exploiting practices around the globe.

[CatWoman]

35. "concern" is the last thing on his mind

he's also still ranting about Pelosi recessing the House so that "they could catch a football game".

sound familiar?

[sandnsea]

41. I should have put 'concern'

In other words, challenge his bullshit by inviting him to join you in the fight he professes to be 'concerned' about. Embarrass him, pull his pants down.

Also, on the football game, that was done at Boehner's request.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=boehner+football+&btnG=Google+Search

[underpants]

43. Google- Delay Northern Marianas minimum wage forced abortions

I think that McHenry has picked up Tom Delay's old lobbyist

see here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=3107603&mesg_id=3107634

[CatWoman]

44. Thanks, UP

I'm gonna slap him in his mouth with that one, too.

I posted the other info above, and he's trying to play stupid.

Thanks for the double-whammy :hi:

[AspenRose]

45. Just so you know where this is coming from

My husband is home today and he's listening to Hannity. Hannity is talking about this and is urging his listeners to not back down on this.

[CatWoman]

46. what's your hubby doing listening to that tripe?

:hi:

[SanCristobal]

50. I'm not sure what impresses me more,

the Republicans ability to find a scandal quickly, or Nancy's ability to walk into one. If I'm not mistaken, the logic behind this basically boils down to the following:

"We can't raise the minimum wage - in American Samoa - because the minimum wage is just a price control that only hurts the economy - of American Samoa. If we did raise it wages would be artificially held above the market equilibrium (of American Samoa) and as a result prices would go up and people would loose their jobs, in short it would be an economic disaster, but only in American Samoa."

Christ, no matter what team is up to bat, government continually amazes me with its ability to screw everything up.