Cannery Opposes Buying By Puerto Rico Govt. Of Samoa Tuna ff

The management of Bumble Bee’s tuna cannery in Puerto Rico, located in Mayagüez, complained during a public hearing of the Congressional Treasury Commission last week, that the Porto Rican Educational Department is considering to buy canned tuna from the StarKist plant in American Samoa for its School Luncheon Program.

StarKist had a plant in Mayaguez that shut down its operations about five years ago, leaving 1,200 people unemployed.
 
Legislator Charlie Hernandez, representative of Mayaguez, requested the Educational Department to include Bumble Bee tuna products in its School Lunching Program last Wednesday. Mr. Hernandez emphasized that Bumble Bee is the only tuna canning industry on the island and maintained that the government’s public policy must be to “always favor the local company that is generating employment in Puerto Rico”. “Whenever possible, there should be preference towards the company that is canning tuna in Mayaguez and is generating 600 direct jobs”, the legislator said as response to the claim on behalf of Bumble Bee’s management.

According to Mr. Hernandez, “the concern of Bumble Bee’s management was a surprise, but the reality is that they are right to protest and request to be included in the alternative plans for the provision of School Luncheons.

Bumble Bee recently restructured its processing activities by including new advanced technology for greater efficiency, the management informed. Bumble Bee’s factory manager, Zulma River, said that “the employees affected by this new and more advanced technology will be given the opportunity to solicit and compete for the new job-positions which will be created”.