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Cordial talks soured by ‘secret’ bill
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Posted on Jan 25 1999
• Negotiators from the Northern Marianas and the United States decided at the last minute to cancel a joint media conference that would have been the culminating activity of the four-day 902 talks. That followed disagreement at the last leg of the four-day consultations over plans of the U.S. panel to introduce a new legislation that will apply federal laws on immigration, minimum wage and Customs to the CNMI.
• Members of the CNMI 902 team, who were otherwise upbeat about the way the talks initially went, were unaware about a revised takeover proposal that had already been drafted until Washington negotiator Edward B. Cohen broke the news in a morning talk show.
• CNMI rejected a draft joint statement prepared by Cohen and which was supposed to be released to the media. The draft would have contained agreement of both panels to work together in crafting a legislation to phase in federal immigration and minimum wage laws.
• During his four-day stay in the Northern Marianas, Cohen met with about 30 Chinese and Bangladeshi workers, who are either employed or displaced, and visited work sites and staff houses in four different places. CNMI officials said they were unaware of these meetings.
• Cohen’s meetings with foreign workers were not included in his itinerary. He decided to hold dialogs with non-resident workers after his meeting with federal representatives in Saipan.
• CNMI rehearsed the presentations of local agencies a week before the 902 talks started to ensure that panel members and officials don’t disagree during the meeting with their U.S. counterparts.
