[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16431-16433]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  HISTORICAL RECORD OF OPINION EDITORIAL ON CANNED TUNA MADE BY CHILD 
                                 LABOR

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 2, 2014

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include, for 
historical purposes, the following opinion editorial on canned tuna 
made by child labor.

                     [From The Hill, Jan. 8, 2014]

                Tuna Firms Spar Over School Lunch Access

                          (By Kevin Bogardus)

       The world's largest tuna companies are making a splash in 
     Washington with a fight over rules that keep some catches out 
     of school lunches.
       StarKist and Tri Marine are clashing with Bumble Bee and 
     Chicken of the Sea over the Agriculture Department's strict 
     Buy American standards for where tuna is cleaned, canned and 
     shipped.
       Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea lose under the rules. 
     Both companies have facilities that process tuna in the 
     United States, but their product is also cleaned overseas. 
     Under the USDA standards, their tuna cannot be served in 
     schools, denying them access to a lucrative market.
       StarKist, on the other hand, has a major operation in the 
     U.S. territory of American Samoa. Tri Marine is building up a 
     new facility in the territory as well.
       The two factions are sparring over language in the House 
     agricultural appropriations bill that would require the USDA 
     to issue a report on how the department could revise its Buy 
     American standards, including ``the option for less than 100 
     percent of the value of the tuna product be United States 
     produced.''
       The language could be slipped into the omnibus spending 
     bill that lawmakers aim to release sometimes this week. If it 
     becomes law, that report could clear the way for Bumble Bee 
     and Chicken of the Sea to begin selling to schools.
       Millions of dollars in government sales are at stake, 
     including for American Samoa, where tuna is a linchpin of the 
     island economy.
       The fight over the provision has become bitter, with both 
     sides hurling charges of child labor and inhumane working 
     conditions at the other.
       ``I suspect most members don't have the facts yet on where 
     Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea source their tuna. And if 
     they would be informed, they would not be supportive of this 
     language,'' said Jim Bonham, chairman of the government 
     affairs practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
       Bonham lobbies for Tri Marine, founded in Singapore, and 
     StarKist, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh but owned by 
     Korea's Dongwon Industries. StarKist's tuna qualifies for the 
     USDA's school nutrition program because it's processed in 
     American Samoa, and Tri-Marine's catch should as well once 
     its plant is up and running.
       But their competitors want in on the action.
       ``For years, we have been trying to revise these standards. 
     So instead of 100 percent U.S. content, we would revise it 
     down to 80 percent,'' said Jeff Pike, CEO of Pike Associates, 
     which lobbies for Bumble Bee. ``We are buying fish from U.S. 
     boats. We are working with U.S. fishermen. We have a U.S. 
     factory and we are the only U.S.-owned major brand.''
       Tuna purchases by the U.S. government represent a 
     significant chunk of change. The USDA's purchases of canned 
     and pouched tuna have equaled around $20 million per year 
     over the past decade.
       The provision under scrutiny could upend that market, 
     critics argue.
       ``The parameters of the study are so narrow, we know what 
     the outcome will be. It asks them [the USDA] to come up with 
     multiple options to erode the Buy American standards,'' 
     Bonham said.
       Bumble Bee's advocate contends that changing the standards 
     would simply bring competition to American Samoa's tuna 
     industry.
       ``There is a lot of sympathy for American Samoa. I'm 
     convinced, even with the change, the government will still 
     buy tuna from American Samoa,'' Pike said. ``Tuna is high in 
     protein. Tuna is low in fat. What is your objection to 
     putting competition into the school lunch program so kids can 
     eat more tuna fish?''
       American Samoa has consolidated lobbying forces to protect 
     its golden industry. Last summer, StarKist, Tri Marine, the 
     Chamber of Commerce of American Samoa and others formed the 
     Stronger Economy for American Samoa Coalition.
       The group has worked to promote American Samoa, including 
     highlighting a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed by Pittsburgh 
     Steeler Troy Polamalu that discussed the ``economic 
     distress'' in the territory.
       Mark McCullough, a coalition spokesman, said loosening the 
     Buy American standards would hurt American Samoa.
       ``Congress needs to be partnering with the islands' public 
     and private industry leaders on a new economic development 
     plan, not costing more Americans their jobs by weakening what 
     it means to buy America,'' McCullough said.
       Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D), American Samoa's delegate on 
     Capitol Hill, has sought to substitute the report language 
     with his own measures that would target Bumble Bee and 
     Chicken of the Sea. One proposal would have USDA study 
     whether child labor was used to process tuna bought by the 
     government.
       Faleomavaega's aides have given a PowerPoint presentation, 
     obtained by The Hill, that cites human rights reports that 
     blast Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea for using Thai 
     facilities, where workers allegedly suffer terrible 
     conditions while cleaning tuna.
       ``It is disgraceful to suggest that poor kids in Asia 
     should be forced to provide tuna sandwiches for America's 
     school lunch program. Bumble Beeware! It is time for America 
     to know the truth about Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea,'' 
     Faleomavaega said in a statement to The Hill.
       In opposition to the language, Faleomavaega has sent 
     letters to select members of the House and Senate Agriculture 
     panels, Appropriations agriculture subcommittees and to 
     Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The delegate has 
     also asked for help from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi 
     (D-Calif.), according to his office.
       ``I suspect most consumers don't want to buy child labor 
     tuna. . . . Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea are kicking a 
     hornet's nest here,'' Bonham said.
       StarKist's critics said the company has used the Thai 
     plants as well, but its supporters say the company has made 
     sure not to sell any foreign-processed tuna to the U.S. 
     government.
       StarKist has had to contend with a Food and Drug 
     Administration ``warning letter'' for poor workplace 
     conditions in 2011. That halted its tuna sales to the USDA, 
     but backers of the company say the issue has since been 
     resolved.
       Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea also have their 
     supporters in Congress. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) 
     introduced legislation last year that would loosen the Buy 
     American standards for tuna.
       ``It simply provides more flexibility to the Department of 
     Agriculture's canned tuna purchasing program. The Tuna 
     Competition Act is designed to bolster domestic industry,'' 
     said Mattie Munoz, a Sanchez spokeswoman.
       Bumble Bee has a tuna canning plant in Santa Fe Springs, 
     Calif.--based in Sanchez's district--that employs more than 
     300 workers.
       ``Congresswoman Sanchez is always happy to fight for job 
     creators in the 38th District. However, it is important to 
     note that this bill will help US tuna producers nationally,'' 
     Munoz said.
                                  ____


                     [From The Hill, Jan. 14, 2014]

                Boycott Canned Tuna Made by Child Labor

             (By Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa))

       As an Asia-Pacific American and former chairman and current 
     ranking member of

[[Page 16432]]

     the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the 
     Pacific, I hope that Congress and consumers will boycott 
     efforts by Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea to introduce 
     canned tuna made by child labor into America's school lunch 
     program.
       Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea are disqualified from 
     providing canned tuna to the Department of Agriculture's 
     school lunch program because both companies clean their tuna 
     in factories in Thailand, which use child, trafficked, and 
     other forced and exploited labor. The Environmental Justice 
     Foundation says ``the processing industry in Thailand does 
     not just have a problem with human rights abuses, but is 
     built on it.'' This brutal business practice is a gross 
     violation of the Department of Agriculture's Buy America 
     program and is simply un-American.
       USDA provisions exist to ensure that federal dollars are 
     spent on products that are available and produced 100 percent 
     in the United States. Buy America provisions also exist to 
     ensure the highest quality goods are being purchased by the 
     U.S. government, and they are being manufactured in a manner 
     consistent with American policies as related to child labor, 
     working conditions and wages.
       StarKist, which operates in the U.S. Territory of American 
     Samoa, complies with Buy America provisions. At StarKist 
     Samoa, our workers fully manufacture canned tuna from the 
     whole fish through to the final, labeled product. On 
     occasion, if enough whole fish is not available, StarKist has 
     in the past used frozen loins to supplement the whole fish. 
     However, in compliance with USDA regulations, StarKist uses 
     segregated lines to make sure only whole fish processed 100 
     percent in the U.S. is used for the school lunch program.
       Despite misinformation put forward by Bumble Bee and 
     Chicken of the Sea, American Samoa's workers are local 
     citizens and legal residents from the neighboring country of 
     Samoa. StarKist abides by U.S. labor and environmental laws, 
     and pays workers in accordance with federal minimum wage 
     standards as determined by the U.S. Congress, unlike tuna 
     factories in Thailand where Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea 
     clean their fish.
       In response to proponents who say there is no competition 
     in America's school lunch program, Tri Marine is making a $50 
     million investment in American Samoa. Tri Marine intends to 
     use the same business model as StarKist by cleaning the whole 
     fish through to the final, labeled product.
       And as for those trying to take advantage of a temporary 
     interruption of canned tuna to America's school lunch program 
     due to a warning letter StarKist received from the Food and 
     Drug Administration in 2011 about deviations from the Hazard 
     Analysis and Critical Control of Point and Low Acid Food 
     requirements, the suspension has been lifted and had nothing 
     to do with the debate at hand.
       Furthermore, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea have come 
     under fire from the FDA due to problems with seams on their 
     can lids not meeting safety standards. In 2013, both Bumble 
     Bee and Chicken of the Sea issued a nationwide recall of 
     their canned tuna products because their faulty seals could 
     make the tuna vulnerable to spoilage and contamination, which 
     could sicken consumers. Tragically, in 2012, a tuna worker 
     was cooked to death at Bumble Bee's plant in California, and 
     the company was fined and cited for egregious safety 
     violations.
       Once you unveil the truth, it is crystal clear that 
     proponents of changing the Buy America requirements for 
     canned tuna in our school lunch program are the same 
     proponents who believe poor children should sweep floors in 
     exchange for their lunch. It is bad enough that child labor 
     and human rights abuses exist. But it is disgraceful to 
     suggest that poor kids in Asia or anywhere else should be 
     forced to provide tuna sandwiches for America's school lunch 
     program.
                                  ____


                     [From The Hill, Jan. 28, 2014]

                         The Buzz on Bumble Bee

             (By Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa))

       Bumble Bee has been lobbying Capitol Hill since 2007 to 
     introduce canned tuna made by child labor to America's 
     schoolchildren and troops under the guise of creating 
     competition, reducing prices for government agencies and 
     increasing the presence of a healthy school lunch option for 
     our children. Chicken of the Sea (COS) joined the effort in 
     2009. Both companies clean their tuna in low-wage countries 
     like Thailand where human rights abuses, including the use of 
     child labor, are rampant in the processing industry.
       Chicken of the Sea is owned by Thai Union, which is under 
     investigation for employing 14- to 17-year-old migrants. 
     Bumble Bee's supplier in Thailand is Sea Value, and Unicord 
     is part of the Sea Value group, which is also under heavy 
     criticism for the same human rights and child labor 
     violations. Bumble Bee owns a 10 percent share in Sea Value.
       The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) knows about human 
     trafficking in the canned tuna industry and said no to the 
     guise. However, with the support of Rep. Jack Kingston (R-
     Ga.), Bumble Bee and COS succeeded in getting language 
     inserted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, 
     which now requires the USDA to submit a report within 60 days 
     regarding potential ways that would allow a revision of the 
     Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurements for the 
     purchase of canned tuna.
       This is just a disingenuous way of requesting that the USDA 
     weaken the USDA's 100 percent Buy America provisions and 
     permit canned tuna made by child labor into America's school 
     lunch program. In response, I called for a boycott on Jan. 
     14. And on Jan. 15, Rep. Kingston, who is my friend, 
     clarified his intent regarding Buy America provisions. As 
     reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kingston 
     stated, ``I think the concern is, what can you do to not 
     necessarily go into the Buy American provision, but are there 
     alternatives?''
       On Jan. 16, Chris Lischewski--CEO of Bumble Bee--perhaps 
     troubled that he may be losing Kingston's support, buzzed all 
     about how Bumble Bee uses companies in Thailand to clean some 
     of its tuna (The Hill's Congress blog: ``Sorry, Charlie, but 
     that's a fishy story'') and how he ``knows'' those companies 
     don't violate child labor standards because they sign a 
     statement saying they don't. Every schoolchild in America 
     knows you can't rely on an offender to tell the truth about 
     whether or not they have offended.
       According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, 
     Thailand's processing workforce is ``90 percent migrant and a 
     large proportion is unregistered and trafficked.'' As 
     acknowledged by Thailand, its government cannot account for 
     the well-being of its migrant workers.
       The U.S. Department of Labor reported in 2012 that ``the 
     Government [of Thailand] lacks current nationwide data on 
     child labor . . . and children continue to be engaged in the 
     worst forms of child labor, including in hazardous activities 
     in . . . seafood processing.''
       And so, while Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee opt to 
     continue the un-American practice of having their canned tuna 
     made by child labor in Thailand. StarKist chooses to clean 
     its tuna in American Samoa. And yes, unlike Lischewski, every 
     schoolchild in America also knows that American Samoa is part 
     of the United States.
       Canned tuna supplied by StarKist for America's school lunch 
     program is 100 percent made in the USA. On the rare occasion 
     that StarKist uses frozen loins, it maintains a separate, 
     segregated line in accordance with USDA guidelines to assure 
     no frozen loins or foreign-cleaned fish is used in America's 
     school lunch program.
       StarKist, a U.S. corporation and a subsidiary of the 
     Dongwon Group of South Korea, abides by all U.S. labor and 
     environmental laws.
       As for monopolies, according to a Government Accountability 
     Office report, since 2006, companies like Bumble Bee that use 
     child labor to make their canned tuna operate at a $7.5 
     million per year advantage and climb over companies like 
     StarKist that make their canned tuna in the USA.
       Regarding safety standards, in 2013, both Chicken of the 
     Sea and Bumble Bee issued a nationwide recall of their canned 
     tuna products because their faulty seals could make the tuna 
     vulnerable to spoilage and contamination, which could sicken 
     consumers. Tragically, in 2012, a tuna worker was cooked to 
     death at Bumble Bee's plant in California, and the company 
     was fined and cited for egregious safety violations.
       And so, while Bumble Bee's slogan may be Eat, Live and 
     BeeWell, I believe consumers should consider a new label for 
     a company so intent on selling tuna made by child labor to 
     America's school children and troops: Bumble Bee Ware.
                                  ____


                 [For Immediate Release, Mar. 16, 2014]

 Bumble BeeWare, Why America's School Kids Should Just Say No to Tuna 
                     Sandwiches Made by Child Labor

       The WSJ opines about how fish is brain food and ought to be 
     served up in school cafeterias. I would agree except for the 
     whale of a tale the WSJ has penned up about Bumble Bee and 
     Chicken of the Sea.
       The WSJ reports that the FDA found StarKist's American 
     Samoa processing operation wasn't up to health standards, and 
     that's why we have no tuna in school cafeterias. Only last 
     year, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee issued a nationwide 
     recall of their canned tuna due to spoilage and 
     contamination. In 2012, an employee was cooked to death at 
     Bumble Bee's plant in California.
       Bumble Bee has little regard for its workers much less kids 
     here or abroad, and neither does Chicken of the Sea. Both 
     companies use child labor in Thailand to clean their tuna. 
     Asian kids and other exploited workers are paid approximately 
     $0.75 cents an hour to manually cut off the head, fins, and 
     tail, and scrape off the skin. After the hard work is done, 
     Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea ship the clean tuna back to 
     the U.S. where about 200 workers in California and 200 in 
     Georgia are paid to $12 to $18 an hour to put it in a can.
       By hook or crook both companies then claim they're American 
     as apple pie and ought to be able to provide canned tuna for 
     the USDA's 100% Buy America school lunch

[[Page 16433]]

     program. Thankfully, reputable human rights organizations, 
     including FinnWatch, and renowned human rights activists like 
     Andy Hall, who is known to Nobel Peace Prize winner and 
     Congressional Gold Medal recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, have 
     documented the fraud.
       Chicken of the Sea is owned by Thai Union, the world's 
     largest tuna exporter. Bumble Bee is supplied by and has 
     interest in the Sea-Value owned Unicord factory in Thailand. 
     FinnWatch found that both factories in Thailand employed 14- 
     to 17-year old migrants. More than half of those interviewed 
     reported workplace abuses including physical and verbal 
     harassment, dangerous working conditions, high employment 
     registration fees, and confiscation of passports.
       When your work papers and passports are confiscated, you 
     become a slave to your employer. This is why the U.S. State 
     Department's 2013 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report 
     underscores that ``the risk of labor trafficking among 
     Burmese migrant workers in the seafood industry in 
     [Thailand]'' is high; ``57 percent of those surveyed 
     experienced conditions of forced labor.''
       The AFL-CIO has filed a petition with the U.S. Trade 
     Representative asking that the trade preferences for Thailand 
     be suspended or terminated because the government in that 
     country has failed to take meaningful steps to address worker 
     and human rights abuses in a number of sectors, including 
     seafood processing, or fish cleaning. Wal-Mart should also 
     call for a boycott and take canned tuna made by Bumble Bee 
     and Chicken of the Sea off their shelves.
       Most of all, the USDA shouldn't feed canned tuna made by 
     child labor to America's school kids. Neither should 
     Congress. It would be un-American to do so.
       StarKist, a subsidiary of a Korean company, is 
     headquartered in Pennsylvania, USA and cleans its tuna in the 
     U.S. Territory of American Samoa where our sons and daughters 
     have served in record numbers in every U.S. military 
     engagement from World War II to present. Our enlistment rates 
     per capita are one of the highest in any State or Territory.
       Yes, StarKist employs our cousins from the neighboring 
     island of Samoa, but we don't employ children, and we don't 
     pay workers $0.75 cents and less per hour. Our employees are 
     legal residents, paid in accordance with federal minimum wage 
     laws and our canneries abide by all U.S. laws and 
     regulations. That's why canned tuna made in American Samoa 
     qualifies for the USDA's 100% Buy America school lunch 
     program.
       Once upon a time, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee also 
     qualified. For more than 50 years, Chicken of the Sea 
     operated in American Samoa and Bumble Bee in Puerto Rico. In 
     2009, Chicken of the Sea closed its operations, outsourced 
     more than 2,000 jobs to its parent company in Thailand, and 
     set up a skeletal crew in Georgia USA. In 2012, Bumble Bee 
     left Puerto Rico, also outsourced American jobs to Thailand, 
     and now keeps a small crew in California. By choice, neither 
     company qualifies anymore to sell canned tuna to America's 
     school kids because by choice their tuna is no longer 100% 
     Made in the USA.
       And that's why Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee are having 
     a tuna meltdown.

                          ____________________