Private sector employers are supportive of the government’s plan to train workers who lost their jobs at Samoa Tuna Processors for other employment.
But they say while there may be a few jobs opening up here and there in the private sector, it’s no where near the 800 needed to employ all of the STP workers who have been laid off.
Last week, the group that Governor Lolo picked to explore assistance for the STP employees met with several businesses to get their input on the administration’s plan of assistance for the affected workers.
STP closed its canning operations December 16.
A businessman who attended said while he appreciates the government asking for their input, he was upset that ASG is far behind on paying vendors and was imposing scanner fees on businesses.
He said a few of the business people present didn’t hold back on their comments, letting the Directors of Human Resources and Commerce know that businesses are struggling to survive while the government continues to implement polices and rules that hurt them.
They also complained that the government never seeks their advice before imolementing policies that hurt them.
Businessman Tom Drabble said they told the ASG officials that there are no new jobs in the private sector especially for unskilled employees.
He was critical of the spending of ASEDA bond money saying none of it creates economic development, which translates to new jobs.
The government is seeking a grant from the US Department of Labor to place STP workers in trainee positions which will pay them while they learn on the job.
The grant would pay the bulk of the trainee’s compensation and the employer would pay a fraction of the cost.
It will be something similar to the National Emergency Grant Program which trained employees that lost their jobs when the Samoa Packing plant closed and the 2009 earthquake and tsunami hit.
Director of Commerce Keniseli Lafaele says input from the private sector is the final data to go into the grant application to the federal government.
According to the results of a survey of STP employees conducted by the Department of Human Resources, the majority of employees want to stay in the territory.
And their preference for employment is ASG.
Meanwhile StarKist Samoa employees are in their second week of their holiday break.
Usually the cannery shuts down for two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s but this time the holiday closure is for three weeks.
Owners of StarKist say the reason for the extended shutdown is because of a fish supply situation.
It says lack of additional cold storage means it cannot take in as much fish as it would like to sustain its cannery operations.
ASG officials hope to have a lease document for StarKist to build new freezer facilities at the government shipyard ready for signing very soon.
