Kitsch/Posh » minimum wage http://kitsch-posh.com Mmm, Needs More Blog. Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:28:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Barney Frank drove two thousand American Samoans out of work http://kitsch-posh.com/2009/05/24/barney-frank-drove-two-thousand-american-samoans-out-of-work/ http://kitsch-posh.com/2009/05/24/barney-frank-drove-two-thousand-american-samoans-out-of-work/#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 13:03:05 +0000 M http://kitsch-posh.com/?p=669 Remember this hilarious video (we had posted it) of Barney Frank whipping it out on the House podium?

Click here to view the embedded video.

We didn’t really know or care why the other guy thought the minimum wage bill was such a big deal for American Samoa. But then recently this came up [Reuters]:

Chicken of the Sea, the tuna company, announced this month that it will close its canning plant in American Samoa in September. The culprit is 2007 legislation in Washington that gradually increased the islands’ minimum wage until it reaches $7.25 an hour in July 2009, almost double the 2007 levels.

In 2007, the hourly minimum wage in American Samoa for fish canning and processing was $3.76 and the minimum wage for government employees was $3.41. Shipping had the highest minimum wage, at $4.59. Garment manufacturers got the lowest, at $3.18 an hour. A $7.25 wage is a substantial increase for most residents.

Chicken of the Sea will lay off 2,041 employees—12 percent of total employment, almost half of all cannery workers. And the 2,700 workers at StarKist, the other American Samoa tuna canning company and Chicken of the Sea’s rival, are probably concerned that their jobs are the next to go.

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