Minimum wage rate in CNMI rises to $4.55 today

With the increase, the new minimum wage rates in American Samoa, which vary by industry, will range from $4.18 for garment manufacturing to $5.59 for certain types of shipping and transportation.

Employees who work in the CNMI can expect to receive $4.55 per hour.

“With this next phased increase, workers in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are on their way to receiving the same minimum wage as mainland workers,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “The Department of Labor is committed to ensuring vulnerable minimum wage workers receive the full protection of the law.”

The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 amended the Fair Labor Standards Act, increasing the general federal minimum wage in three steps: from $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.

A separate provision of the amendments brought about phased increases to the minimum wages in American Samoa and the CNMI. Under this provision, the minimum rates in these territories increase 50 cents an hour each May until they reach the minimum wage generally applicable in the U.S. Increases occur each year in American Samoa on May 25 and in the CNMI, which is across the international dateline, on May 26.

Prior to the FLSA amendment, special industry committees that met biennially set the minimum wage rates in American Samoa.

In addition, before enactment of the FLSA amendment, the CNMI government, under the authority of a covenant between the people of the Northern Marianas and the U.S. Congress, set the CNMI minimum wage. The overtime, youth employment and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA were already applicable to CNMI before the change, and they have continued to apply as before.

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the FLSA, has updated compliance assistance information on its Web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov. Every employer subject to the FLSA minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the FLSA’s provisions in all of its establishments so that employees are readily able to read it.

Employers and employees seeking more compliance information on the new minimum wage rates in American Samoa and the CNMI may call the Wage and Hour Division’s Honolulu District Office at 808-541-1361. Fact sheets and further guidance are available on the division’s Web site.

Delay

American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono has asked Congress to delay the implementation of higher wage minimums in the U.S. territory, saying the rising wages have already pushed one tuna cannery out of business and may force the shutdown of another.

The governor wrote U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, chairman of the Senate’s labor committee, asking lawmakers to postpone the May 2010 wage increase for one year.

Tulafono, in a letter dated May 12 and released last week, explained to Kennedy, D-Mass., that Chicken of the Sea International plans to shut down its COS Samoa Packing plant at the end of September, laying off 2,172 workers.

Chicken of the Sea is due to move its tuna-processing work to Vietnam, where the hourly pay is less than 70 cents, he said.

The governor said the territory’s other cannery, StarKist Samoa, which is owned by Dongwon Enterprise Co. of South Korea, plans to eliminate 20 full-time salaried positions and trim hourly workers to cut costs.

The continued operation of the remaining fish processor in the territory is highly doubtful, Tulafono said.

The fish-canning industry directly and indirectly accounts for nearly three-fifths of all economic activity in American Samoa.

The minimum wage for American Samoa’s tuna canneries—the largest employer in the territory—increased from $4.26 to $4.76 per hour yesterday. Workers in government jobs saw their hourly minimum wage rise from $3.91 to $4.41.

Tulafono said delaying the May 2010 wage hike would give Congress time to evaluate the results of a Government Accountability Office report on how the increases have affected American Samoa and the CNMI.

That report is due April 15, 2010. [B][I](With AP)[/I][/B]