Samoa's Office of Immigration raided

Human Trafficking alleged

About 20 officers from several agencies closed American Samoa's Office of Immigration last week, removing a large file cabinet and more than 15 bins full of documents, according to the Samoa News. Photos of the raid are displayed on their home page, but there hasn't been a follow-up story.

Lt. John Cendrowski of the Office of Territorial and International Criminal Intelligence and Drug Enforcement (OTICIDE, says Samoa News) told the New York Times that "In our ongoing investigation into human trafficking, we have heard from different Asian races on how they were 'recruited' to come to American Samoa in order to earn a better living."

Radio New Zealand reports that "The Office of Criminal Intelligence, the FBI and the Department of Public Safety raided the Immigration Office last week searching for files of 750 Asians, including Chinese, Korean and Filipino citizens."

Samoa News says the Independent Prosecutor's Office obtained the search warrant.

This timing is particularly bad for American Samoa, with Radio New Zealand also reporting that "A four member team from the US General Accountability Office is due in American Samoa next week to study the territory’s customs and immigration systems."

It also complicates matters for Rep. Gregorio C. Sablan, who told the Saipan Chamber of Commerce Saturday he was working on legislation to amend the 'federalization' law.

Opponents of federal control often point to American Samoa's system as an argument for local control in the CNMI.

Tsunami hits American Samoa

I've gotten some reports of a five-foot tsunami hitting Pago Pago, American Samoa.

The warning for the Northern Marianas has been cancelled by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Makes you feel better, doesn't it?

Actually, that's so far south and so far away it's no big thing-- to us.

Locally, though, the U.S. Geologic Survey (link expired) reported a magnitude 8.0 quake at about 3:48 am our time, and if you look at the widget on the bottom left of this page you can see there are a lot of aftershocks greater than 5.0.

I'm off to look for news stories, but the USGS has a nifty page (link expired) where people can report: it sounds like the quake itself was felt as "moderate" in AS.

More: According to Bloomberg.com: Pacific Tsunami Kills at Least Five in Samoa Region After Quake. There are a lot of stories now if you Google it.

What's your prevailing wage?

There's apparently still no determination of prevailing wages for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (or American Samoa) in the U.S. Department of Labor's Online Wage Library.

That's one very devilish detail with federalization of labor just around the corner.

Where's the data coming from? Could anyone help me here? I heard a rumor that we might start with Guam's wages.

From DOL's Office of Compliance: While there are several federal agencies involved with granting permission for foreign workers to work in the United States, employers generally must first obtain certification through DOL. Certification may be granted in cases where it can be demonstrated that there are insufficient qualified U.S. workers available and willing to perform the work at wages that meet or exceed the prevailing wage paid for that occupation in the area of intended employment. (emphasis added)

I was thinking of this (again) because of a Press Release from DOL:

STERLING, Va. — GlobalCynex Inc., a Sterling information technology company, has agreed to pay $1,683,584 to 343 non-immigrant workers after a U.S. Labor Department investigation found the company violated the H-1B visa provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

An investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division found that employees hired under the H-1B program were not paid required wages from March 2005 through March 2007. Wage and Hour Division investigators also found that the company charged new H-1B workers training fees ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 that were in violation of the law.

"This case underscores the firm stance the Wage and Hour Division is taking to ensure that employers do not undercut American workers by underpaying temporary foreign workers," said Corlis Sellers, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division's Northeast Region.

The H-1B visa program permits employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in professional occupations such as computer programmers, engineers, physicians and teachers. H-1B workers must be paid at least the same wage rates as are paid to U.S. workers who perform the same types of work or the prevailing wages in the areas of intended employment.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the H-1B wage provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in addition to other federal laws pertaining to wage payments. For more information about the H-1B program, visit the department's Web site at www.dol.gov/compliance/audience/foreign_workers.htm.

Here it comes

Who'd have guessed it? Hard on the heels of S.2739 being sent to President Bush, the Governors of American Samoa and the Northern Marianas are asking to put off this month's minimum wage increase--or for $15 million each.

S.2739 would extend U.S. immigration and some labor laws to the Commonwealth. The CNMI and American Samoa minimum wage will jump fifty cents to $4.05 on May 25.

The money's a good idea, if they can get it, even if it's frittered away as usual.

But really, I'm amazed they're still trying to block the minimum wage. Now they're on the other side, particularly in the Senate. They not only need a majority, they need a large majority to make any changes. It just...won't...happen.

Maybe it's in their contracts with the Saipan and American Samoa Chambers of Commerce.

And they have to bring up that tired, worthless Department of Labor report again.

Pshaw.

Wage pages

The U.S. Department of Labor finally got around to posting its report on the effect of the minimum wage increase on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

I'm not sure when they released it, but it's been on my list of Things to Follow-up since I first read the draft.

I thought the report was basically worthless because it wasn't based on facts, but there was language on page four that gave me hope:

This report is comprised of three subsequent sections. Section Two includes: (a) a summary of the economic situation of American Samoa prior to the initial scheduled minimum wage increase; (b) a discussion of possible impacts observed since the implementation of the initial fifty-centincrease in the minimum wages since July 24, 2007 in American Samoa; and (c) a discussion of projections of possible future impacts. Section Three comprises a similar discussion regarding the CNMI. Section Four presents concluding observations regarding data needs to support future investigations of the impact of minimum wage increases affecting the subject erritories.

But there was no Section IV.

Okay, surely the most important--maybe the only important-- part would be completed in the final version. Nope, the sentence I bolded was dropped.

What's going on? I remember stories (thought I bookmarked, sorry) saying the U.S. Congress wanted more information, a better study. Also on page four (emphasis added again):

It was not feasible to conduct field investigations in connection with this study. Had there been time and resources to conduct survey data collection in the field, travel by the research team to the islands could have been useful. However, meaningful field observations would have required data collection from both employers and households over many successive months in order to discern effects of the initial and subsequently scheduled minimum wage increases. In addition, a systematic data collection effort would have required approval of a survey under the terms of the Paperwork Reduction Act. Given the short reporting timeframe, design and implementation of field surveys were not practical.

Just so we get this straight: they couldn't, or wouldn't, even travel to the islands or do surveys. But they did interview 26 people by telephone and email. They won't tell the Congress how they're going to do it better.

If I was in my cynical/paranoid mode... but I'm not, so I'll let it lie for now

Oh, the map. It's from DOL, showing states/jurisdictions that have laws above the minimum, below the minimum and no laws. What's wrong with this picture?

Samoa for, er, Samoans

A couple of Radio New Zealand International stories on the minimum wage hearing in American Samoa strangely echo what we've been hearing in the CNMI.

There's the American Samoa Chamber of Commerce, of course. They say any future wage increases should be based on a study of the economy. I guess they didn't like that Department of Labor report much either.

They add that, if the increase is not stopped, the canneries "will make some serious decision". Here's the story.

A schoolteacher, one Peni Teo, has a different view which he's planning to share. His argument is that the raise is good for local workers. He says too much emphasis is placed on the canneries and that most of their workers are from Western Samoa.

He's quoted as saying “You’re looking at eighty, eighty five percent of the labour force or employees at the canneries are from Samoa and part of what I’m arguing for is that not only that labour force belongs to Western Samoa, those folks are now living here depleting land resources for families are well as government resources that really belong to the people of American Samoa.”

His view is available here.

Minimum wage retort

Want to read a good joke? Try downloading U.S. Labor's minimum wage report on American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Don't take my word for it: check it out for yourself.

""

Still with me?

Whether you're for it or against it, this product is lame. The two main points from the summary: "1. Short Time Frame. The reporting time-frame specified in the legislation – no later than 8 months from the date of enactment (May 25, 2007) – did not provide sufficient time to observe actual effects of the minimum wage increases"... and "2. Lack of timely labor market data ...The lack of such data for American Samoa and the CNMI significantly impairs efforts to measure or to project the impacts of scheduled minimum wage increases for these territories. It was not feasible to conduct field investigations in connection with this study."

Minimize the minimum (Panglossolia)

If you're agin raising the minimum wage you read "With both of its major industries declining simultaneously, the CNMI economy is in overall decline, and its current economic situation makes it especially vulnerable to additional shocks. While data are not available to precisely quantify the impact of the recent and scheduled future increases in the minimum wage, it seems likely that the current economic decline may be made worse. General experience in the U.S. and elsewhere has shown that potential adverse employment effects of minimum wage increases can be masked or offset to some degree by an expanding economy that is generating net employment growth. No such offsets can be expected in a declining economy."

Stay the course (Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead)

If you're fer a higher minimum you find this nugget tucked away in the back of the report: "Some recent U.S. research regarding the effects of minimum wage increases suggests some positive employment effects when increases are associated with labor markets characterized by a degree of monopsony power." Dictionaried, monopsony means "A market situation in which the product or service of several sellers is sought by only one buyer."

Don't confuse me with the facts

Strangely, the Saipan Tribune chickened a little. You'd almost think they had a vested interest in a low minimum. My buddy Dick Pierce, the governor's office and the Chamber of Commerce each get a day to wring their hands. Nobody is asked to express another point of view. Huh. I guess the 'majority' opposes the minimum wage as part of that federalization bundle.

Monday's article included this gem "Increasing the CNMI wage to $7.25 an hour, the report said, is comparable to raising the U.S. minimum wage to $16.50 an hour." Not exactly. The report said "The scheduled increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 (by 2015) will likely affect at least 75 percent of wage and salary workers in CNMI. By comparison, in order to directly affect 75 percent of U.S. hourly workers, the minimum wage would need to be raised to $16.50, the 75th percentile mark for wage and salary workers who are paid hourly rates." Lies, damn lies and statistics, the man said.

Tell me what I think

So who can we believe? Try yourself. What did you think about the minimum wage before this shelf-filler came out?

Or, heh, me. I think the jury's still out. I've maintained for years that a higher minimum wage in the CNMI would be great for small businesses because the majority of people would have more disposable income. Unfortunately, higher energy costs have sucked up the loose change from the cushions so we may never know.

There are already too many quotes, but I'll add one last tidbit from the report: "In 1980, the CNMI per capita income of $3,298 was 32.5 percent of U.S. per capita income of $10,134, and in 2000, the CNMI per capita income of $9,151 was 30.7 percent of U.S. per capita income of $29,855.33." It's pretty obvious that the old model wasn't getting us to a U.S. standard of living.

Fifty cents this year? Yeah, maybe, probably. Then how about a real study when there are results to analyze? I'll bet they've already shelved this treewaster and forgotten about the subject.