Labor: 902 talks right way to discuss CW program’s issues

CNMI Secretary of Labor Edith DeLeon Guerrero said the Section 902 talks, or discussion between the Commonwealth government and the White House, is the appropriate avenue to discuss concerns over the CNMI’s foreign worker program that is set to end in 2019.

“This is the most appropriate vehicle to discuss the concerns on the CW transition with the federal government, which will also require the CNMI to produce the workforce evidence data that explains and/or supports the position to extend or not beyond 2019,” DeLeon Guerrero said. 
“The discretionary authority given to the U.S. Secretary of Labor under U.S. Public Law 110-229 to extend the CW worker program is no longer, hence advancing the need to initiate the 902 talks,” she added.

Based on the numbers, there are not enough workers to fuel the workforce pipeline by 2019, according to DeLeon Guerrero.

In her talk with Assistant Interior Secretary Esther Kia’ana during the latter’s visit last week, DeLeon Guerrero said they discussed gathering workforce data for pre-, during, and post-construction of the upcoming projects in the CNMI.

DeLeon Guerrero said she is willing to be part of the 902 talks to be able to clearly present the data regarding the state of the Commonwealth’s workforce.

Discretionary authority

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan also met with Kia’ana along with DeLeon Guerrero.

“[Kia’ana’s] going to be a strong advocate for helping us restore, hopefully restore, the discretionary authority to the U.S. Department of Labor to extend the CW visas,” Sablan said.

Sablan said Kia’ana talked about what the Chamber and Labor need to do to set up their position papers and start lobbying and presenting white papers to local and federal Labor departments.

“The unfortunate decision to pull the CW authority from DOL was made with distorted information or the lack of information. The only information at the time was our 2010 Census, which declared that there are 2,400 people unemployed, 10,000 people that were sitting outside the labor force. So basically, one fifth of our population was unemployed in their purview,” Sablan said.

Sablan noted that 15,000 rooms are now projected to be built in the CNMI in the coming years, which would require more workers.

“What we’re attempting to try to do is ask if we can get [the discretionary authority] restored because of the needs beyond 2019 based on what we perceive as the development that is being projected now,” he said.

Sablan said the CNMI will not be able to meet the deadline and will not be ready to totally phase out the foreign workforce under the CW program. There are not enough individuals to sustain the CNMI economy beyond 2019, he added.

“At this stage we can’t even consider the idea of one person being lost to the Commonwealth, let alone thousands because we need to reduce [CW workers] to zero,” Sablan said. “It’s just a fact that we can’t live without a foreign workforce because we don’t have sufficient local workforce.”

It will take an act of Congress to restore the discretionary authority on the CW.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) earlier said there is no executive way of getting around the 2019 deadline.

Asked if it would be possible to extend the CW program, Sablan said what is needed is to change the program altogether. “If we’re going to do something, we need to change the program rather than this present structure of the CW,” he added.