StarKist Co. will hold its semi-annual Board of Directors’ meeting next month in American Samoa to be chaired by Jae-chul Kim, the South Korean based owner of Dongwon Industries, the parent company of StarKist Co and StarKist Samoa.
StarKist spokesperson Mary Sestric, based at the company’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa., said the meeting is set for Dec. 6-8 and Kim will be accompanied by the StarKist board of directors and the company's executive team.
Holding the meeting here comes at a time when the cannery is faced with many challenges in a globally competitive industry, especially in American Samoa where recent minimum wage hikes have been a major concern for everyone.
Labor costs is one of the issues cited by the company for the reasons behind major cuts at its Satala operation last year but the cannery has been able to rebound slowly, with the next minimum wage hike being on hold for two years.
Some local residents have reported being hired by StarKist between September and October this year.
Sestric told Samoa News late last month that any “current uptick in head-count in StarKist’s operations in American Samoa can be attributed to greater confidence in the underlying cost structure of manufacturing there - thanks to the delay in minimum wage increases, 30A [federal tax credit], the [ASG] tax exemption, as well as in-plant cost savings initiatives.â€
She also said the company is hiring approximately 100 fish cleaners for November and December to “meet our production needs for 2011 and 2012, especially as we head into our high-demand seasons.â€
Gov. Togiola has said the government will continue to lend whatever support it can to assist the canneries, StarKist and new comer Samoa Tuna Processors Inc. His administration has committed to building a freezer facility to store fish for the canneries and the local fleet.
Togiola estimates the facility will cost between $11 million and $12 million and the government will seek financial assistance from the U.S. Department Agriculture.
