You've Got a Friend in Nancy, Says Charlie Tuna -- Dems Min. Wage Bill Exempts San Fran Based Company's Samoan Tuna Workers

Guess it's time for Nancy to run her own culture of corruption. The newly touted Minimum Wage bill passed by the House has an exemption in it for American Samoa. The Washington Times reports:

"American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws. One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island's work force. StarKist's parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea."

What gives Nan? As one who practices nearly exclusively under the FLSA (min. wage and OT Claims), y'all would be amazed at the number of exemptions in the law for special interests. You know, the movie theatres are exempt from OT, guess they had a friend in Congress. You want to laugh, read all the exemptions here. Well, guess those poor Samoans will have to be the only folks out of all the US territories that don't have to receive minimum wage. You libs would jump up and scream if the GOP did this (just as one Republican Alaskan Senator added an exemption from the disparate impact amendments to Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to the Wards Cove cannery). But no outcry from the Dems on this? Don't all Americans and folks living in the American Territories deserve the minimum wage? The minimum wage law now extends to the folks on the Northern Mariana Islands, but I guess they don't have any business ties to Nancy's district. Go figure!

Read the article here.

UPDATE: After much criticism, the Dems have relented and have not included minimum wage coverage for those of American Samoa. Read the reversal here.