AGO, garment firm agreement approved

The Superior Court has approved an agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and a garment firm, which would result in additional money to alleviate the conditions of displaced garment workers.

Presiding Judge Robert Naraja directed the AGO to proceed at once with notifying former employees of Marianas Garment Manufacturing, Inc. regarding payment of heir share from the $1-million settlement reached between the government and the garment firm. The company is not the same as the existing MGM factory.

David Hutton, the AGO’s newly appointed special attorney for garment issues, reached an agreement with the Marianas Garment Manufacturing Inc. to finally end the 13-year-old lawsuit by the government against MGM. This development is expected to benefit garment workers who have recently been displaced from their jobs by allowing the government to tap into unused portion of the $1-million MGM settlement.

Pursuant to the court-approved plan, the AGO will send notices to all claimants that weren’t fully compensated in the first distribution. The notice will give each claimant 30 days from receipt to return documents and claim for payment.

“This is a great day for displaced garment workers,” said Attorney General Pamela Brown, who insisted that their welfare is her number one priority.

“The money will go to repatriation and to other needs,” Hutton said.

Hutton said the government expects at least $167,000 of the unused funds to be used to alleviate living conditions of displaced garment workers in the CNMI. He said the money could also be used for repatriation.

Hutton praised MGM attorney Michael Dotts, who cooperated with the government’s plan to tap into unused funds.

Records showed that then Labor Director Joaquin Torres sued MGM in 1992 for alleged failure to comply with the Nonresident Workers Act and Minimum Wage and Hour Act. Although the defendant garment firm maintained that it did not exploit its workers, it settled the case for $1 million.

The company made an initial $400,000 payment to then Labor and Immigration Secretary Mark Zachares in 1997 and an additional $613,880 in 1998. Proceeds of the settlement were deposited into a savings account with the Bank of Saipan.

MGM also provided information on the identities and whereabouts of some 400 former MGM workers in China. The AGO’s representative claimed to have distributed approximately 80 percent of the settlement fund among the workers, but some of them could not be found, leaving the remaining amount undisbursed.

Originally, Hutton said the undisbursed amount only totaled about $234, 000, but the money has now ballooned to $404,000 due to earned interests.