Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Deputy Attorney General Roy J.D. Hall Jr. provided for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday the latest information on workers hired to work under the Guest Worker Permit law, which allows StarKist Samoa to recruit workers from Samoa.

At the outset of the 40-minute hearing, Hall informed committee members that he had checked with the Immigration Office “and at present we have total active guest worker employees at 913.”

And he had also provided the number of workers from 2021 to 2022 and “separately this amounts to 906 block-permits that we issued. 772 arrived in American Samoa and two were sent back,” Hall explained. “And the guest workers remaining is 770. Total applications paid and completed for the workers at StarKist is 748 and 22 applications are still pending.”

Hall also gave a summary of the Guest Worker program, which is set by law, and currently primarily allows StarKist to fill workers for its cannery operations.

The program, “allows StarKist to be the sponsor of the block-permits and they are responsible for all the expenses of the guest worker,” he said noting that the other part of the program is that there is a host family that participates in it. He explained that the host family signs an agreement that they will host the guest worker.

Also under the program, once a year, every guest worker has to renew their employment ID with the Immigration Office to stay in the program. And at that time, workers have to show proof that they are still staying with the same host family.

“In my review of the program, what I’ve seen, the program is working,” he said, and pointed out that review of guest workers is every year, the fees are being paid and confirmation for the host family for the worker is being confirmed.

The hearing was called by the committee after senators raised concerns over the program and workers recruited from Samoa. There are also concerns being raised not only in the Senate but in some parts of the community as to the safety of StarKist Samoa returning to full production, more than a week ago, in the midst of the community transmission of the COVID-19.

Hall spoke briefly regarding StarKist Samoa operations at this time of community spread and explained that prior to the cannery resuming production, the company filed a proposed plan to operate within the Governor’s COVID-19 Emergency Declaration.

He explained that the plan was reviewed by the Health Department and the Attorney General’s Office “and then changes were made to ensure the safety of employees, control the community spread, and to ensure that every employee that works is fully vaccinated” — and they are tested regularly.

Hall reiterated that “as far as the information that I’ve received from the Attorney General and the Immigration Office, the [Guest Worker] program is working. The primary thing is that, if it wasn’t working, if the guest workers were leaving their jobs to go work elsewhere, StarKist would be the first to complain that they didn’t have enough workers.”

“But right now, the workers under the program — as far as our record shows — are still working at StarKist and they are still applying and renewing their annual requirements for the work permit,” he pointed out and also shared with committee members copies of the law.

Samoa News will report in future editions of concerns raised by senators during the hearing regarding this permit program and workers recruited from Samoa.

As reported by Samoa News several times since it was enacted in 2007, the guest worker permit law authorizes the Attorney General “to issue guest worker permits... for the purpose of entry of persons of Samoan ancestry born in the Independent State of Samoa into American Samoa for purposes of employment by either of the two canneries or call center.”

The law defines the sponsor as an employer belonging to the canneries or call center doing business in American Samoa requesting a guest worker permit for an individual to enter American Samoa for purposes of employment by the canneries or call center.

The law provides seven specific requirements that a guest worker must meet in order to be issued a permit.

The inclusion of call centers in the law, was at a the time when there were off-island companies interested in setting up operations in the territory but those proposals never came to fruition. It was also during this time there were two cannery operations on island, but only StarKist Samoa remains at this time.