Manglona wants House to act on amendment bill

A ranking senate member called on the House of Representatives yesterday to act promptly on a bill that aims, among others, to mandate exit plans for displaced garment workers.

Senator Paul Manglona said Senate Bill 14-83, the latest proposal to amend the Nonresident Workers Act, seeks to give industry players a 90-day period to finalize their exit plans for workers in case of closure or downsizing.

“I hope the House can look at it immediately and see what additional amendments to be made,” said Manglona.

The bill said that “due to the transition currently facing the garment industry,” the Department of Labor should be tasked to meet with each garment manufacturer in the Commonwealth to discuss exit plans.

At the minimum, the department should make an inquiry on the final wages to be paid to workers, the manufacturers’ plan to repatriate nonresident workers, and the existence of any bonds.

Manglona said the bill’s passage is crucial since downsizing in some factories has began in view of the global lifting of trade quotas effective last month.

“Some companies are not getting orders anymore. We expect the companies to take care of the workers, the bonding company to back the bonds issued,” said Manglona.

The senator favors the repatriation of workers who have finished contracts or whose position would not be needed by another company.

However, if employees have remaining months before contract expiration, he said, they deserve a chance to be transferred to another factory.

“Probably we can allow them to work in another factory or find an employer to take them, but for those who are finishing their contract, I think that we should be careful with issuing with temporary work authorizations,” he said.

The senate bill, which passed the senate over a week ago, aims to limit issuance of TWAs, citing rampant incidence of frivolous complaints.

“The practice of issuing TWAs should be severely curtailed,” said the bill.

Among others, the measure also wants to impose a $10 copayment “to deter nonresident workers from seeking unneeded medical treatment which unnecessarily depletes the scarce resources of the Commonwealth’s medical providers and unduly burden employers.”

It said that employers need not shoulder every medical expense incurred by a nonresident worker; “only medical expenses stemming from injury, illness, or disease.”

In particular, it said that employers “need not pay for elective or cosmetic procedures.”

The bill, which was authored by Manglona and Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, is considered a substitute of House Bill 14-282, which essentially aims to allow the local garment industry to hire more workers, specifically, cutters, sewers, trimmers, and pressers to help relieve the sector compete in view of the global lifting of trade quota restrictions.

Under the present law, the CNMI apparel industry is only allowed a maximum of 15,727 nonresident workers.

The senate bill does not allow any lifting of the moratorium.