CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Pelosi's Bedfellows
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Pelosi's Bedfellows

post #1 of 13
1/14/07 at 4:27pm
Thread Starter 
Just out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about Pelosi's little minimum wage exemption for her corporate constituent, Starkist?

Quote:
House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

"I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."

On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.

The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.

One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island's work force. StarKist's parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.
Reply
post #2 of 13
1/14/07 at 5:14pm
Here is another part of the article

Quote:
Pelosi later told reporters she would try to work to see if "all territories" could be included in compliance requirements for the new law.

The Washington Times reported that while Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., was calling the wage increase "a matter of fairness," Republican Steve Forde, a spokesman for the House Education and Labor Committee, said it was "ironic" that one of the first bills advanced by Democrats promising across-the-board fairness has an exception.
Oh and here is the link to full article:

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53747
Reply
post #3 of 13
1/14/07 at 5:38pm
Did some checking.

Van Camp which is owned by ConAgra is the other major company in American Samoa. So their employees right now are exempt from the wage hike.

Congra's headquarters is in Omaha Nebraska - whose state Senator is Chuck Hagel (R). The Junior Senator is Ben Nelson (D).
Reply
post #4 of 13
1/14/07 at 6:26pm
Regarless of who represents which state, the fact is that if Pelosi and everyone else in Congress wants to be fair across the board to all Americans, improving the minimum wage in American Samoa would actually make a difference (fish canning and processing workers in American Samoa make less than $4 an hour; 30% of all American Samoans make between $3.25 and $3.50), unlike most of the rest of the country where very few workers are paid the minimum wage anyway.
ETA: the numbers above are from the US Department of Labor's website for 2005.
Reply
post #5 of 13
1/14/07 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eileen
Congra's headquarters is in Omaha Nebraska - whose state Senator is Chuck Hagel (R). The Junior Senator is Ben Nelson (D).
Why, this is exactly the hypocrisy and double-talk that we have come to expect from the Republicans...

Seriously, it's the height of stupidity for any Democrat or Republican to accuse all of those on the other side of hypocrisy. Both inherently have a history of hypocrisy, because both parties have contained multitudes of policies and people.
Reply
post #6 of 13
1/14/07 at 6:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Belethedheliel
Regarless of who represents which state, the fact is that if Pelosi and everyone else in Congress wants to be fair across the board to all Americans, improving the minimum wage in American Samoa would actually make a difference
Of course the people of American Samoa deserve the same wages and I don't believe anyone was disputing that in this thread.

All I am doing is pointing out that these corporations who have factories there is not just in Pelosi's backyard which is not mentioned in the entire article I posted a link to.
Reply
post #7 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:08pm
American Samoa wasn't subject to the same minimum wage laws as the States proper in the first place; that's why it was exempted from the wage increase. It has nothing to do with Pelosi or StarKist. I bet the legislation didn't even mention StarKist.

Quote:
Just out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about Pelosi's little minimum wage exemption for her corporate constituent, Starkist?
There's no issue here. Republicans are crybabies who are desperate to make Pelosi look bad because they lost the election, so they're telling lies. Republican bullshit leaves me feeling frustrated and disgusted, same as always.

How do you feel about it?
Reply
post #8 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:16pm
I believe I took Belethedheliel's post the wrong way. I thought she was slamming me and upon a second read that was not the case.

This is what I get on those "emotional days"
Reply
post #9 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:33pm
So, just to be perfectly clear: the minimum wage exemption applies to a territory, not to a specific company? Can we please frame these debates in non-blatantly-misleading ways?
Reply
post #10 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:34pm
Oh, wait, it's WorldNetDaily. Never mind.
Reply
post #11 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:48pm
Here's why American Samoa was exempt.

Quote:
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.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/ameri.../ASminwage.htm

That's all there is to this. Why doesn't someone wave this Act in front of those House Republicans who think there's something fishy going on and tell them to shut the fuck up already?
Reply
post #12 of 13
1/14/07 at 7:50pm
See, the Republicans aren't even internally consistent anymore:

Quote:
"I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."
If it's exactly what they have come to expect from Democrats, why was he shocked?
Reply
post #13 of 13
1/14/07 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seabass Inna Bun
That's all there is to this. Why doesn't someone wave this Act in front of those House Republicans who think there's something fishy going on and tell them to shut the fuck up already?
Because they already know about it. Keep in mind that they don't actually believe any of the bullshit they routinely shovel. Misrepresenting the facts and twisting the evidence is just a day at work for these people. They know what's really going on, but presenting the truth doesn't hurt the other side. American politics is all about hurting the other side.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Political Discourse
CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Pelosi's Bedfellows