Terminated worker turns NMI basher

The Tribune has learned that former garment worker Carmencita Abad is traveling the country telling false and misleading stories about conditions in the apparel industry in the islands.

The NMI basher was recently in Texas again spreading aged-old information about the Northern Marianas whose travel expenses is rumored as being bankrolled by either the textile labor unions or an activist group of sort or both.

Ms. Abad was originally hired as a sewer by Sako Corporation but was reassigned as service girl assisting the sewing section for apparently failing to meet the qualifications as contained in her application. “She was too slow and incapable of meeting her duties, thus the floor manager’s decision to reassign Ms. Abad”, according to a company official.

A company official who spoke on condition of anonymity related that Ms. Abad and the rest of the employees are given money (after the employees’ living quarters burned down in 1993) to rent privately selected housing in the San Antonio Community.

“It’s surprising that she has the nerve to criticize the company when the selection of her own living quarters was hers alone! Shocking how short her memory is as to criticize her own decision”, the official related.

“When Ms. Abad went on vacation earlier this year, she never returned nor informed the company of her decision not to return to work. It’s a case of abandonment of job. So we decided to terminate her contract with the company,” according to a company official. “The next thing we know, she was making appearances lambasting the apparel industry here in various parts of the US mainland spreading all the wrong information”.

The Tribune also learned that Ms. Abad filed an EEOC Case (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) sometime last year. Federal District Court documents show that Ms. Abad was granted a preliminary injunction in November of 1998 which required her former employer to retain her on a Temporary Work Authority (TWA). But she requested for an emergency return to the Philippines and has since never returned. Her TWA expired last April.

The Tribune placed a call to EEOC’s office here last week, but was told by an INS official that they only come in twice a month to investigate labor complaints. EEOC is a federal outfit who does part-time labor investigation in the NMI out of Honolulu. The one puzzling aspect of Ms. Abad’s entry into the US mainland was the rather swift manner with which she entered the country via Guam.

Questions like: who helped her with her visa, the quick and instant approval of said visa, possibility of her now boasting a green card and who’s paying for her travel expenses around the country smearing the image of the NMI have certainly boggled the minds of leaders and observers here.

Said Rep. Melvin Faisao, chairman of the House Federal Relations Committee: “It’s an interesting case that also merits probing by the US House Resources Committee. I want to see whose dirty hands had a role in the quick transition of Ms. Abad turning into a mouthpiece as a terminated employee from the NMI.”

On Sept. 18 of last year, Ms. Abad was included in an existing National Labor Relations Board case alleging she was unlawfully terminated. The NLRB hasn’t provided any further information about the existing case, yet have decided not to seek TWAs on behalf of 10 other workers who filed a charge with them. The case though remains opened and is being maintained on behalf of one worker, Ms. Abad.

A member of the Saipan Garment Manufacturing Association related that Ms. Abad has simply “ignored our approval for independent monitoring to protect the industry, buyers and employees’ welfare”. He said the “industry has made progressive strides in concert with federal and local labor and safety agencies to improve upon work conditions throughout the industry here.”