Production continues to be slow at the territory’s biggest private sector employer, Starkist Samoa, because of limited fish supplies.
There was no work Monday for the cannery and some production tables were shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday, just like last week.
Several employees said production was initially scheduled for Saturday which would mean a 40 hour week for them since Monday was off. However employees have now been told that there will be no production on Saturday.
KHJ News sought a comment from StarKist spokesperson Michelle Faist about the continued cutback in hours but she said StarKist would like to stick with their earlier statement.
The statement says StarKist’s business model is highly dependent on the US flagged purse seine fleet making direct delivery of fish to our cannery.
And without reliable and reasonably priced fish supply, the StarKist plant cannot operate efficiently.
Faist said the cannery’s production delays last week are a result of an inconsistent fish supply and it was necessary to stagger some workers to best accommodate production needs.
Several StarKist employees expressed disappointment with the cutback in hours.
