HANMI frowns on 3-year stay limit

Amid renewed threats of a federal takeover of labor and immigration policies of the Northern Marianas, businessmen maintained that imposing a three-year restriction on the stay of non-resident workers will not stave off Washington’s plan to assume control of the local functions.

The Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands said giving a three-year residency limit to guest workers would be impractical and a disaster for the tourism industry.

“Unless we come up with a long-range training program (apprenticeship type or entry-level certification program) for the local people, then, create a need-to-work attitude and not use this as a stepping stone to a government job, we will remain dependent on guest workers for a long time,” said Ron Sablan, president of HANMI.

Limiting the stay of foreign workers is not the issue but the willingness of the local people to work and their perseverance to stay in one job for a period of time, according to businessman Joe Ayuyu.

“The three-year limit will not solve the problem of providing employment to the local people in the private sector. Instead, what should be done is for the government to get the commitment of individual businesses to train them and for the local employees to make a commitment that they will stay on the job,” said Ayuyu, who was former president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

Based on the 1995 CNMI Census, the Northern Marianas would not be able to fill the island’s labor requirement for the hotel industry alone until the year 2042.

During an oversight hearing in the U.S. Congress in March 1998, Sablan noted that even members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources recognized the importance of foreign labor and the shortage of local workforce when it amended again the proposed takeover bill to accommodate the industry’s needs.

According to Sablan, the CNMI government can help businesses on the island by making the retirement program available to private employees through lower contribution rates as a form of security.

HANMI members employ some 1,700 foreign workers in the CNMI. There are more than 3,800 hotel rooms on the island, 76 percent of which are represented by the hotel association.

When he established the first McDonald’s fast food chain on Saipan six years ago, Ayuyu said his main goal was to hire locals for his business. Of the 14 locals he sent to Guam for training where he spent $70,000, only one stayed behind.

“We commit our time in training them but after a week they’re gone. The locals have to change their attitude. They should show interest in work,” he emphasized.

With the current slowdown on the island’s economy as a result of Asia’s financial crisis, Ayuyu said the local people must value the amount of money and time that businessmen are investing to train them.

“It is every easy for those people who employ only two or three people to change their positions on the three-year limit bill. But for those who have more than 50 or 100 employees, it will spell the end of their businesses,” said businessman Tony Pellegrino.

Pellegrino, who owns Saipan Ice, said he supports the idea of giving residency to foreign workers who have stayed in the Northern Marianas for a long time since they have provided invaluable assistance to their employers.