Mark Your Calendars! Go See Brad and Jeff in Play Buffet

Hey, Everyone:

Be sure to check out Jeff, Brad, and gang which opens March 7!


Two weeks from Friday, March 7, is the opening of the Play Buffet in the American Memorial Theater in the Park. Nahal Navidar, an amazing actress, is in it. Brad Ruszala has a part, I have a piece, as do a bunch of other cool people. To help promote live theater on the islands, I'd appreciate it if my fellow bloggers would post this image on their blogs until we conclude the run in three weeks.


Jeff


Check out my Saipan Blog at http://turbittj.blogspot.com/

CNMI LABOR FORUM

Greetings!

If you would like to know more about PL 15-108 and what's happening at the Department of Labor, I invite you to visit the CNMI Labor Forum at www.cnmilaborforum.blogspot.com

President Bush Proposed A U.S. Guest Worker Program In 2004

Letters to the Editor
Saturday, February 09, 2008


Philosophy behind guest worker program


Lots of debates regarding the pro- and anti-federalization plus Public Law 15-108 (which is now in effect), forums, informal meetings and toolbox talks are very much alive in the Commonwealth among locals and foreigners alike at this very moment. Aside from attending forums, meetings and to find a more viable input, I found a very significant article coming from an independent organization that I hope will support the effort of many foreign workers here in the island seeking for improvement in their working status.

This article, titled "Guest Worker Program," was published in the US Immigration website (http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/guestworkerprogram.html). I am providing you with a copy of the said article so that both locals and foreigners will understand that no less than President Bush himself wants to improved the status of foreign workers because of their great contributions to the US economy.

Guest Worker Program

In 2004 President Bush proposed a guest worker program as a way of giving back to illegal immigrants. He discussed the important role that immigrants have played in the United States by shaping America into what it is today. The United States has had a tradition of welcoming foreigners into the country who have tended to assimilate well into American culture. Bush mentioned that the growth of immigrants over time has propelled the economy into the world's largest and has allowed it to become a powerhouse. Their contributions continue to be evident as they take on difficult jobs that many times require long hours. Immigrants are also known for starting their own businesses which help contribute to the U.S. economy. President Bush drew upon his personal experiences as a Texan to point out how Mexican immigrants he knew had made a difference in the country. He also added that they bring certain values with them like family, work ethic and independence. One specific example that he brought up was the thousands of immigrants that currently serve in the military. They may be foreign born but this did not deter them from embracing the service opportunities that this country has to offer.

Bush emphasized the qualities that immigrants brought to the country and how the United States was dependent upon them. Therefore, he suggested that changes in the current immigration system needed to be introduced. Some employers take advantage of the current situation of illegal immigrants by paying them less than minimum wage. Many hard-working illegal immigrants find themselves fearing deportation due to nationwide raids where documents are verified. Another possibility is that someone will report them to authority figures which can lead to deportation as well. Bush mentioned that having to spend their efforts on patrolling the borders so as to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally hampers the efforts of securing the country overall. Thus, President Bush has proposed that a better immigration system be introduced so that more immigrants are able to achieve the American Dream.

Many immigrants come with the intention of improving their lives which is something that is shared by humanity in general. President Bush mentioned how they end up taking the jobs that many Americans will not even consider. Illegal immigrants make many sacrifices to reach the United States and often take abuse. Other times they are exploited but this goes unreported due to fear that they may end up being deported. Bush claimed that the current immigration system was not fair and that laws needed to become more humane. Under Bush's proposed temporary worker program, foreign workers would be given the opportunity to fill a job that Americans are not willing to take. Beforehand, the company must make reasonable efforts to find an American that will take the job. In the case that they cannot find a willing American, then they can resort to hiring an immigrant who has a valid permit. Permits will be given for a three year period and would be renewable upon meeting certain requirements. Those violating any requirements or laws will have their permit revoked and deported to their homeland. Employers will be required to hire only those with a valid permit. In addition, employers must report the information to the government so that they can keep track of those in the system. The government will also enforce harsh penalties for employers who violate any work laws under the guest worker program.

Those who participate in the program will be required to register and possibly pay a fee. This would depend on whether they were currently residing in the country or if they are currently abroad. To identify individuals in the program they will be given a temporary worker card. Bush would also work closely with the foreign governments to make sure that after the permit has expired they will have incentives to return to their country. In addition, he would also find a way to have the credit of a temporary worker applied to the retirement system in the foreign country. The temporary workers would also be able to contribute part of their earnings to some type of retirement savings plan. While the program proposed in 2004 was not approved, the guest worker program still is being promoted by President Bush. He mentioned the need for such program in a two day summit in Cancun, Mexico in March 2006. Currently, the guest worker program is part of a Senate bill on immigration reform that could grant amnesty to 12 million immigrants in the United States.

Disclaimer: This article was published by an independent organization. It should be used for information purposes only. Access it at http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/guestworkerprogram.html.

Carlito Jimenez Marquez
Puerto Rico, Saipan

Howard Willens On H.R. 3079

Tuesday February 5, 2008


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plain meaning of H.R. 3079

By Howard Willens
For Variety



FOR more than a decade commonwealth residents have debated the pros and cons of federalization of the CNMI immigration and labor laws. Today this debate is focused on the provisions of H.R. 3079, currently before the U.S. Senate for final approval. Although the debate on the merits of the bill undoubtedly will continue, it is desirable to strive for a common understanding of what the bill means.

The issue

Recent media reports originating from an unnamed source at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, plus numerous letters in support of H.R. 3079, have proposed an interpretation of the legislation’s transition program which I find to be clearly wrong. The question at issue may be simply stated: Does the transition period under H.R 3079 involve one or two special programs for guest workers in the CNMI?

In support of the two guest worker programs theory

The anonymous committee staffer (quoted in the Marianas Variety of January 30, 2008) and the letter writers contend that there are two separate guest worker programs provided by H.R. 3079 under which employers may hire nonimmigrant foreign workers during the transition period.

First, they state that “current guest workers would be eligible for the new CNMI-only temporary guest worker program.” They go on to say that this will give these workers “the chance to remain in the CNMI as long as that program is operating and it will certainly last at least six years beyond the date” of the bill’s enactment and “probably longer, given the CNMI’s very large dependence on guest workers.” (This description is misleading. It fails to acknowledge that during this transition period federal officials are required to reduce annually the number of workers covered by the permit system in order to achieve eventually the goal of zero. It offers small comfort to the 19,000 guest workers in the CNMI to know that a few of them will have the “chance” to be the last to be repatriated.)

Second, they state that “guest workers would be eligible for the non-immigrant worker program under existing federal law on H visas, and allows the CNMI to participate in it without numerical caps.” Conceding that the goal of the legislation is to eventually reduce the number of the guest workers under the CNMI-only temporary guest worker to zero, the proponents of the two-programs interpretation state that “guest workers would continue [to] be able to enter the CNMI indefinitely under the existing federal non-immigrant worker program or [sic] H visas.”

In support of only a single guest worker program

I find that there is a single transition program defined by H.R. 3079, which imposes a permit system on all employers seeking to use nonimmigrant foreign workers, whether that worker is presently in the CNMI or comes in on an H visa. Furthermore, the law requires reductions in the number of permits on an annual basis to zero by the end of 2013, subject to the granting of an extension. After the transition period ends, nonimmigrant workers could enter the CNMI only with an H visa and the commonwealth would be subject to the national caps (unlike Guam). Because it would have to compete with all other U.S. jurisdictions for H visas under the national caps (after the transition program ends), the commonwealth would get few, if any, of these visas.

I find that the two-program theory is unsupportable for these reasons.

First, there is nothing in either the language of H.R. 3079 or its legislative history that refers to two separate guest worker programs during the transition period. All preceding versions of this bill have defined only a single such program to help bridge the gap between the CNMI’s current situation and the full application of the federal immigration laws. This is true of the original versions of H.R. 3079 and S. 1634 as introduced in Congress in 2007, as well as S.1052 passed by the Senate in 2000 and S. 507, approved by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 2001. Each of these bills defined a single special transition program lasting 10 years (or possibly longer) during which the number of nonimmigrant guest workers in the commonwealth would be reduced to zero.

Second, the proponents of two programs infer the existence of the second guest worker program from the exemption from the numerical caps for H visas that H.R. 3079 provides to the CNMI during the transition program. Such an inference is not supportable and the subsection authorizing the exemption does not permit federal officials implementing H.R. 3079 to admit nonimmigrant workers under an H visa who are not covered by the permit system established by the CNMI-only transition program.

1) The language of the exemption provision, subsection 6(b) of H.R. 3079, imposes no duties whatsoever on federal officials implementing the legislation. It provides only that “An alien, if otherwise qualified, may seek admission to Guam or to the commonwealth during the transition program as a nonimmigrant worker” under the H visa programs “without counting against the numerical limitations” contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act.

2) The exemption from the national caps was necessary to permit the federal officials to issue one or more H visas to meet particular employment requests in the commonwealth without the need to take such visas away from other jurisdictions in the United States. Such exemptions were contained in all previous bills addressing the CNMI situation, with no reference whatsoever in any of these bills to a “second” guest worker program.

3) In earlier versions of the law, the subsection dealing with the exemption from the caps on H visas was contained within the description of the CNMI-only guest worker program. It was almost certainly moved out from this description once it was decided to extend the exemption to Guam as well as the CNMI. It would have been inappropriate, and perhaps misleading, to have this provision relating to Guam contained in the subsection dealing with the CNMI-only guest worker program.

4) The subsections dealing with the CNMI-only guest worker program (with its permit system and objective of annual reductions) indicate that their provisions apply to workers entering the CNMI on H visas, as well as those workers currently in the CNMI who would be entitled to a nonimmigrant classification.

— Subsection 6(d) begins with this statement: “An alien who is seeking to enter the commonwealth as a nonimmigrant worker may be admitted to perform work during the transition period subject to the following requirements [of the permit system]”

— Subsection 6(d)(2) states: “No alien shall be granted nonimmigrant classification or a visa under this subsection unless the permit requirements established under this paragraph have been met.”

— Subsection 6(d)(3) provides that the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State shall establish the conditions for admitting such nonimmigrant workers during the transition period and states: “An alien admitted to the commonwealth on the basis of such a visa shall be permitted to engage in employment only as authorized pursuant to the transition program.”

Third, if the drafters of H.R. 3079 as approved by the House of Representatives had intended to exempt the workers coming in under the H visa program from the CNMI-only transition program, they knew how to do so. In the version of H.R. 3079 that was the subject of hearings in August 2007, there was a provision for the use of employment-based immigrant visas, if necessary, to supplement the available CNMI workforce. Before such visas could be used, the Secretary of Labor under Subsection 6(c)(3) of the bill had to conclude “that exceptional circumstances exist with respect to the inability of employers in the commonwealth to obtain sufficient work-authorized labor, in addition to the commonwealth-only transitional workers authorized under section 103(d)….” (emphasis supplied) As the United States Supreme Court has observed, “where Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another…, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion.” Keene Corp. v. United States, 508 U.S. 200, 208 (1993) (quoting Russello v. United States, 464 U.S.16, 23 (1983)).

Fourth, the contention that the bill provides for two, very different, guest worker programs during the transition period simply makes no sense. In the first place, why would any guest worker choose to participate in the so-called temporary program, with the chance of having the available permits being reduced to zero, if such an easy and non-threatening alternative were available under this hypothetical H visa program. Secondly, the argument assumes that the very same federal officials required to apply the harsh provisions of the CNMI-only guest worker program would conclude that Congress intended them to admit all H visa applicants seeking to work in the CNMI without regard to the permit system imposed by the CNMI-only program. This proposition cannot withstand rational analysis.

The fact is, H.R. 3079 mandates the reduction of guest workers in the commonwealth to zero within five years, or perhaps longer if an extension is granted. There are no exceptions, and there is no alternative for guest workers or CNMI employers, who will have to compete for the permits remaining after the required annual reductions. Those who drafted the bill intended this result. There is absolutely no legislative history indicating anything to the contrary. The congressional drafters of this bill (and the Senate bill) and their collaborators at the Department of the Interior declined to provide to the commonwealth any draft of the proposed bill that they ultimately sent to the House of Representatives for passage. If we had been given this opportunity, we could easily have pointed out these and other deficiencies in the proposed legislation and the inevitable and serious adverse effects on the commonwealth and its guest workers that will result from its enactment.

Meeting With Filipino Community

[This reporter reported this story accurately. Thank you, Haidee.]


Home > Pinoy Abroad > Top Stories
CNMI officials to Filipinos: Give new labor law a chance
By HAIDEE V. EUGENIO, GMANews.TV
01/30/2008 | 02:09 PM

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SUSUPE, Saipan – Key officials of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) government told about a hundred representatives of various Filipino groups on Saipan to give the new labor reform law a chance.

In a three-hour open forum on Tuesday night exclusively covered by GMANews.TV, the CNMI officials said Public Law 15-108 or the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007 still allows foreign workers to transfer jobs through administrative orders and not necessarily through the filing of a labor complaint against their current employers.

The officials said the new law allows foreign workers to have part-time jobs of up to 32 hours a month, and provides more protection to guest workers than the current system.

The labor reform law takes effect on Feb. 1.

Thousands of Filipinos and other foreign workers joined a unity march in December 2007 to protest the new law, citing its anti-worker and anti-business provisions that restrict consensual and contract expiration transfers and require guest workers to periodically exit the CNMI from 60 days to six months.

But on Tuesday night, the CNMI officials led by Governor Benigno R. Fitial's special legal adviser Howard Willens and his wife and volunteer attorney Deanna C. Siemer, along with Labor Director Barry Hirshbein and former Rep. Cinta M. Kaipat who introduced the bill in the previous legislature that became Public Law 15-108, said workers may have only been misinformed about the advantages of the new law.

"Even the United States has a touchback provision which requires foreign workers to exit (for one year)," said Siemer, adding that the new CNMI labor law only requires a periodic exit of 60 days to six months.

The CNMI Department of Labor also grants exemptions from the periodic exit requirement.

"Public Law 15-108 is better than any law you can find in the world, including the United States…This is the best system there is," Siemer told the Filipino workers, adding that guest workers should "give the new law a chance."

Workers interviewed by GMANews.TV said what they heard during the open forum was the direct opposite of what they knew about the law.

Opponents and critics of the new labor law say the measure will further disenfranchise guest workers in the CNMI now numbering only 19,856 from 20,883 on Sept. 30, 2007 and from 35,000 just a few years back due to a declining economy.

"Tingnan natin kung sino ang nagsasabi ng totoo pagdating ng Feb. 1," one worker said after the open forum.

The CNMI officials also said that contrary to many guest workers' belief, the immigration federalization bill now pending in the U.S. Senate will phase out the guest worker program.

The federalization bill's provision granting non-immigrant status to thousands of eligible long-term foreign workers in the CNMI was removed before it cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, to the disappointment of over 8,000 long-staying Filipino workers in the CNMI and thousands more of foreign workers.

A non-immigrant status allows eligible foreign workers to freely travel, work and study in the United States and its territories.

Jerry Custodio, president of the Human Dignity Movement, said the open forum did not convince him that the new law is as good as the officials want Filipino workers to believe.

Last year, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial himself was quoted by local media as saying that the exit requirement under the new labor law is to prevent foreign workers from gaining permanent residency status should a bill offering such status is introduced in the US.
Congress.

On Jan. 31, representatives of the Filipino community will meet with US Federal Labor Ombudsman Jim Benedetto in another open forum. Benedetto is one of the most vocal critics of the new labor law, saying it diminishes the right of foreign workers.

The workers said they are also eager to personally hear the concerns of the critics of the bill.

Towards the end of open forum at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, another worker addressed a question to Philippine Consul General to the CNMI Wilfredo DL. Maximo. She asked permission to speak in Filipino to which the consul general agreed.

The worker asked why the Philippine Consulate General has never issued a statement to defend Filipino workers in the CNMI who were called "animals" and other derogatory terms by certain members of the local community.

Maximo said the Philippine government "does not intend to add more fuel to the fire," as he cited an anonymous called who called Filipinos "animals."

"Hindi tayo magpapadala sa ganyang mga incendiary comments… Kapag sumagot kami, parang sinabuyan naming ng gasolina (ang apoy). Hindi naming hahayaan na magkaroon ng racial tension dito," Maximo said.

He called on his fellow Filipinos to maintain friendly relations with all the members of the CNMI community. - Haidee V. Eugenio, GMANews.TV

Transition Program Under H.R. 3079 By Howard Willens

[Note: Press Presentation By Howard P. Willens, Esq.]


January 26, 2008


SUMMARY OF COMMONWEALTH POSITION REGARDING
THE TRANSITION PROGRAM UNDER H.R. 3079


1. The provisions of H.R. 3079 relating to the transition program mandated by the legislation must be interpreted in light of their language, objective, and legislative history – including the earlier bills on the subject considered by the Senate in 1998-2000.

2. The consistent objective of these bills has been to establish a process for reducing the Commonwealth’s reliance on temporary nonimmigrant foreign workers and to require that the CNMI employ only U.S. citizens, freely associated state citizens, or workers admitted on an immigrant basis into the Commonwealth.

3. H.R. 3079 prohibits the CNMI from increasing the number of temporary nonimmigrant foreign workers in the Commonwealth (currently about 19,000) after the enactment of the legislation.

4. Nonimmigrant foreign workers lawfully working in the Commonwealth may remain to the conclusion of their contracts in place on the effective date of the transition program but no longer than two years after that date – which may be either one year or 18 months after the enactment of the legislation.

5. The transition period under the bill applies to all temporary nonimmigrant foreign workers in the CNMI unless otherwise entitled to be in the Commonwealth under one of the exceptions provided by the Immigration and Nationality Act for workers who enter under treaties with the United States, freely associated state citizens, or those covered by one of the many specialized provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act (business visitors, exchange visitors, employees of international concerns, etc.) All foreign workers admitted in the Commonwealth’s 706K immigration category are temporary nonimmigrant workers who do not fall within any of the exceptions under the federal statute.

6. The permit system under the transition program therefore covers both the foreign workers currently in the CNMI and any person who may be issued an H visa during the transition period under the provisions of H.R. 3079.

7. H.R. 3079 permits an alien to apply for a H-1B or H-2B visa to enter the CNMI during the transition period without regard to the national caps on the numbers of such visas. Guam is given an exemption from these caps of indefinite duration. With respect to the Commonwealth, the exemption from the national caps does not authorize the admission of nonimmigrant foreign workers into the CNMI during the transition period outside of the permit system implemented by the federal officials under H.R. 3079.

8. H.R. 3079 eliminated the three alternative means for supplementing the local workforce of US and freely associated citizens contained in earlier versions of the bill – family sponsored immigrants, employment based immigrants, and a “grandfather” provision for long term foreign workers in the Commonwealth.

9. Under the permit system, each temporary nonimmigrant foreign worker employed in the CNMI must fill a position for which his or her employer has obtained a permit from the federal officials.

10. The federal officials are given broad discretion for developing and implementing the permit system under H.R. 3079. This will necessarily involve decisions affecting industries (and companies within industries) differently – with increasingly intense competition for the reduced number of foreign workers available each year under the transition program.

11. According to H.R. 3079, the permit system must operate to reduce the number of permits – and therefore the number of nonimmigrant foreign workers – in the CNMI to ZERO by the end of 2013. This very short time for reaching zero is four years earlier than the deadline provided in any earlier version of the legislation.

12. The bill does provide for one or more extensions – of up to five years – of the transition period. The Secretary of Labor is given the authority to grant such an extension after consultation with other federal officials and the Commonwealth. Such extensions are wholly within the discretion of the federal officials and no assumptions can be responsibly made as to when an extension might be requested or granted. Extensions would still require a reduction to zero but would probably allow smaller reductions each year during the extended transition period.

13. On the effective date of the transition period H.R. 3079 preempts all CNMI immigration laws and most, if not all, of the Commonwealth’s labor laws. This will remove all employer and Commonwealth Government benefits for foreign workers in the CNMI.

14. The fees to be charged by federal officials administering the transition program are certain to be substantially higher than those currently charged under CNMI laws. H.R. 3079, if enacted, would deny the Commonwealth its right under the Covenant to seek the return (or cover over) of the immigration fees from the federal government.


Howard P. Willens
Special Legal Counsel

PL 15-108 Is Progress. Progress Is Incremental

Below is Senator Frica Pangelinan's Opinion piece on PL 15-108 which was published by the Saipan Tribune. Click here.

Opinion
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Notes From the Hill

'PL 15-108 is progress. Progress is incremental.'


By Maria Frica T. Pangelinan
Special to the Saipan Tribune

These are the thoughts that evolved out of my research on Public Law 15-108 and ultimately motivated my support of its enactment. I felt it important to share with you as I believe that information is an essential component of constructive progress.

The dynamics of our labor market affect many, not just people in the Commonwealth. The families of citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals who live on the U.S. mainland and in home countries are influenced as well.

The original labor laws were created on the premise that certain foreign nationals would fill jobs that could not be filled by our resident population. There were two reasons. First, we felt that our small population would not be able to provide a large enough labor pool to fully supply the needs of the industries we were trying to attract. Second, we needed time to prepare ourselves with education, training, and experience, for full participation in the workforce. After 30-plus years, we are more than ready. Even so, we have been slow to acknowledge and address the “brain drain” of citizens leaving our islands. Our investment in the secondary and postsecondary education of ourselves and our young people is being lost as they migrate out of the Commonwealth. Some of our college graduates never even return from the mainland, simply entering the workforce there. We are about a half a generation behind in coordinating the provisions of our labor laws with these realities.

The authors of the bill took on a huge task. Not only were the old laws and regulations complex, they were flawed and fragmented. The original purpose of the Nonresident Worker Act had been lost in a morass of piecemeal amendments. There were loopholes and weaknesses that allowed abuses, not just by employers, but by employees as well. It was a thankless job, not likely to please everyone, and fraught with political and social risk. Nonetheless, led by Rep. Cinta Kiapat, they took on the task of reforming the entire Act, something that no legislators before had been willing to tackle. For this, they have my respect. They did their jobs.

The new law and the accompanying regulations are still complex. Laws that deal with the movement and employment of people across international borders deal with complex issues. That being said, the new law is more streamlined and organized than the old.

PL 15-108 does not address every issue I would have liked. The exit provision makes no allowance for foreign nationals who have lived and worked in the Commonwealth for many years, some with children who are U.S. citizens. Some have no home or family to return to in their home countries during the newly required exit period. Although the regulations provide an alternative exit period of 60 days for some foreign nationals employed by qualifying employers, I do not yet see a clear solution for this issue and it needs to be addressed.

I would also like to revisit the new medical insurance provision. CHC struggles under the burden of being owed millions of dollars for services rendered. This is not a problem created solely by non-payment of medical services for foreign nationals. There are others in the Commonwealth who do not have medical insurance. I would like to explore the possibility of expanding the role of the newly created insurance pool. Perhaps by eliminating self-insurance we could build a larger insurance pool, insuring CHC gets paid more often, an additional benefit for the entire Commonwealth. I am continuing to study this issue.

There is also the issue of foreign nationals who enter the Commonwealth under tourist visas and intend to work. Some of them know they are breaking the law, some do not. The screening procedure used by our Immigration officers at the point of entry should take this into account. At this point I do not know if the current procedures effectively identify these persons, or how the situation is handled. I plan to explore this with the Director of Immigration.

Over the years there has been an accumulation of claims, and court cases pointing to loopholes and weaknesses of the old law. Most people, businesses, and government employees, are honest, hardworking, and law abiding. However, some employers and employees have taken advantage of loopholes, or chosen to break or circumvent the law. Next are the hard lessons we have learned while administering the local labor and immigration laws. People have been taken advantage of and lives have fallen through the cracks. There were as many as 20,000 foreign nationals employed in the Commonwealth in 2007 and the number of tourists was almost 400,000. Only a small number of human trafficking cases occurred during that period. The fact remains, however, that each case is a tragedy for the victim and their families. Every loophole we close is progress toward ending this horrendous practice.

The authors of PL15-108 took these issues and more, into account, integrating input from the Attorney General's Office, the Department of Labor, the business community, private citizens, and many others.

Below is an overview of labor and related issues in the Commonwealth.

Labor Problem

1. A government with too many employees

2. Government revenues are shrinking

3. Average wages are higher in the public sector

4. Relatively high unemployment among residents

5. Highly skilled and educated citizens living on the mainland

6. Residents have problems finding private sector jobs

7. Poor working and living conditions of some foreign nationals

8. Human trafficking

9. Lack of health benefits for foreign nationals who are not workers

10. Abandoned and unpaid foreign nationals

11. CHC has difficulty getting paid for services provided

Solutions

1. Reduce the number of public employees

2. Reduce expenses (payroll), raise revenues

3. Equalize wages in the private and public sector

4. Increase local employment in the private sector

5. Increase employment opportunities in the private sector

6. Improve the system of identifying and matching qualified residents with private sector employment opportunities

7. Improve the inspection and enforcement power of DOL

8. Close loopholes in the foreign national labor laws

9. Mandatory health benefits

10. Improved bonding/increased enforcement by DOL

11. Mandatory medical insurance; disqualifying employers who do not pay medical bills for their foreign workers


PL 15-108 creates rewards for employers that exceed statutory standards and increases the severity of penalties for those, including government employees, who do not uphold the law. The new law is said by some to increase the administrative burden on local businesses. Yes, it does. Hiring a new foreign national is now a special and final option for an employer, and only when it is a documented certainty that no citizen, permanent resident, or foreign national already in the Commonwealth is willing and able to fill the position. This is the same premise on which the Federal guest worker programs are based; to augment the resident workforce, not displace it.

Our entire labor market is shrinking. Payroll is usually the largest expense of a business. The private sector has always adjusted to the economy, increasing and decreasing the number of employees based on demand.

Now, whether by design or by necessity, public sector employment is decreasing also. Payroll is the largest expense of the government as well. Reducing the number of employees while controlling the wages of those who remain must be part of the government's path to solvency. Some who leave the government will retire, some will go off island for employment, and some will depend on social services and family for a means of support. However, many will be searching for private sector employment. We must now work even harder to connect our resident work force with the available jobs.

Part of the solution is to improve the process by which we identify and target career opportunities in the private sector for citizens and residents of the CNMI. The faulty stereotype of all private sector jobs offering only minimum wage is challenged by a study recently completed by the Office of the Public Auditor. During a twelve month period ending August 2006, over 800 nonresident permits were issued for positions that pay over $10 per hour. Many of these positions require the same skills and experience as public sector jobs. It has been reported that some of these positions are protected by a treaty provision and are not available to citizens and permanent residents. I will work with the OPA to verify these reports.

The report is available at: http://www.opacnmi.com/reports/053007%20Jobs%20Study%20Committee%20Final%20Report.pdf

High unemployment among our residents as well as losing them to mainland life is unreasonable in light of the findings of the OPA's job study. Actively recruiting qualified residents for positions should be a priority for private sector businesses.

Employers certainly recognize that by hiring citizens and permanent residents, they are keeping money circulating in the economy that would otherwise be lost to foreign countries in the form of remittances. Keeping these dollars in the Commonwealth takes advantage of the multiplier effect in our economy and this benefits everyone.

Change always causes angst and uncertainty. Some say that PL 15-108 is pointless, as it is soon to be overridden by federal immigration statutes. I respectfully disagree. We have identified problems with our labor laws. We legislators have a duty to correct them. "If “federalization” comes, in its current form, it will not become effective for a year after the bill is signed into law. At a minimum, we have a year during which we continue to be directly accountable for how we deal with identified problems. As our great American hero, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "The time is always right to do the right thing”.

Does PL 15-108 solve all of our labor problems? No. There are larger economic factors, some global, that no law can fix. Our labor market is smaller than in the past and there will be fewer foreign nationals in the Commonwealth, but those that are will enjoy an improved quality of life because of PL 15-108.

PL 15-108 is progress. Progress is incremental. I will continue to monitor the implementation, and work to address the issues I have identified, as well as others that may arise.

(Maria Frica Pangelinan is a senator in the 16th Legislature.)