Grassley enters ‘fishy’ debate over American Samoa wages

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is wading into a “fishy” debate about the minimum-wage bill that has caught American Samoa in the crossfire between a group of scrappy House Republicans and the new Democratic majority.

Late last week Grassley filed two nearly identical amendments to the minimum-wage bill that the Senate is set to vote on today or tomorrow. The measures would apply federal minimum-wage laws to all territories and would abolish a special committee in American Samoa that has helped keep wages in the island territory much lower than the federal minimum and replace it with a formula for regular wage increases. The provision also would allow the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to use the same formula as a way to implement federal minimum-wage laws in a less costly and less bureaucratic way.

“I urge my colleagues to support my amendment,” Grassley said on the Senate floor. “Let’s treat everyone the same.”

The amendment aims to resolve a heated House debate over Democratic efforts to bring the CNMI under federal minimum-wage laws, something former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) worked with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in jail, to prevent while Republicans held the majority in the House.

House Republicans have spent the last three weeks accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) of using the minimum-wage bill to “exempt” American Samoa from an increase because Del Monte, which owns StarKist Tuna, is based in her district and owns one of two packing plants in Samoa that employ a large portion of the islands’ workers.

Last week, House Republicans even passed out stickers depicting Charlie the Tuna with the words “something fishy” around to Republicans on the House floor.

The bill doesn’t mention American Samoa or the fact that Samoa has had measures in place since 1956 that have kept its wages lower than the federal minimum. While in the majority, House Republicans were not exercised about Samoa’s exemption from full U.S. minimum-wage requirements even while other territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands increased their wages, ultimately reaching the full U.S. minimum.  

Political contributions from Del Monte employees suggest that the company leans Republican, not Democratic, and neither Pelosi nor Miller has received any contributions from them, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.com. In the last three election cycles, only one StarKist employee has donated politically, just one time: $500 to Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) in 2000. Del Monte employees aren’t big givers either, but, of the approximately $18,000 Del Monte employees have handed out in the last three election cycles, $13,000 has gone to GOP candidates, PACs and party committees. Del Monte’s owner, David De Benedetti, has repeatedly given to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican National Committee and President Bush’s reelection campaign. 

Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Grassley’s amendment appears to address the point House Republicans were raising about Samoa, but noted that his boss would need to take a close look before deciding whether to support it. 

“You can’t argue the merits of raising the minimum wage without protections for those who are going to be forced to pay it and in the same breath argue that it would devastate the economy of American Samoa,” Kennedy said. “It stands to reason that without tax breaks and other protections for other small-business owners, there are hundreds of small communities spread throughout the United States that would meet the same fate that Democrats claim American Samoa would face if they were subject to the minimum wage. [Democrats] can’t have it both ways.”

Calls to American Samoa Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D) yesterday were not returned. Last week Faleomavaega, along with Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), sent a letter to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and ranking Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), arguing in favor of giving the CNMI the same kind of wage review committee that keeps Samoa’s wages low.

“The proposal would allow the CNMI to transition into the [Fair Labor Standards Act] using the Special Industry Committee, and thus treat the CNMI in the same manner as American Samoa,” Faleomavaega and Inouye wrote. “… The inherent weakness of remote island economies remains a fact, and so the need for a Special Committee mechanism remains.”

Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) sent a similar letter to Kennedy and Enzi last week.

Kennedy does not support the Grassley amendments, a spokesman for the Massachusetts senator said.

Many Democrats have serious reservations about Grassley’s amendment because it fails to provide pressure to increase wages in communities like Samoa and the CNMI, where there are large numbers of non-voting guest workers whose status is more akin to that of indentured servants, according to one knowledgeable Senate source.

“The Education and Labor Committee is looking at the industry committee process to see if it is working and that we make sure that workers throughout the U.S. and its territories are treated fairly,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill.