Asunton Koñgresso

Saying he’s had difficulty understanding the facts and motive of the lawsuit by MilbergWeise versus apparel industries on both sides of the Pacific now before a Honolulu Court, House Floor Oscar Babauta warns of the loss of buyers in the NMI.

Alluding to a letter by Elwood Mott, a former labor union organizer in the NMI slamming factual errors in an article “The Aliens Are Coming” authored by Robert M. Rees, Babauta said he couldn’t agree more with the substance of Mr. Mott’s refutation.

In his letter, Mr. Mott said that the “…trial in Hawaii will be a farce’,” because neither side will be able to bring their witnesses because of problems of obtaining US visas. “The employer will bring a few of their paid witnesses; the court will never hear the truth and will dump the case”.

Said Mott: “UNITE should have accepted my invitation in 1996 to come to Saipan and help me organize the garment factories. Instead, it opted to try to put them out of business, forcing those workers to return to abject poverty in the Philippines, and the rest to jobs paying one-tenth of the $3.05 per hour paid in the Marianas”.

“Mr. Rees’ errors give the employer a defense: The sensationalistic examples give does not exist; the facts stated are wrong, and therefore the case needs to be dismissed, Mr. Mott asserted.

“So long as the do-gooders continue to sensationalize with inaccurate stories and facts, the greedy will continue to screw everybody they can. Unfortunately, the do-gooders are paid for their misbegotten attempts, so only the workers continue to lose”, Mott warned.

Said Babauta: “I really praise Mr. Mott’s courage in his refutation of sensationalism in the impending case in Honolulu”. The fact that special interest groups pay for legal costs raises a the question of whose interest is being represented: the greedy US textile labor unions or employees on both sides of the Pacific.

“This litigation has been costly for the NMI’s apparel industry and the loss of buyers, therefore, a major reduction in revenue generation,” he said. “I pray that the court protects our economic freedom and pays heed to major strides we have made in ascertaining better working conditions for all employees”.
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It took a single phone call by Senior Japanese Diet member Tokuo Yamashita to include Saipan in direct international flights out of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, according to Speaker Ben Fitial. The service is slated to go into effect this summer.

“It’s really very gratifying establishing good working relations with a distinguished man of substance like Mr. Yamashita”, Fitial said. “This is the more vital as we work at reviving tourism in the NMI which took a plunge some three years ago.”

“I also look forward to the establishment of the Joint Legislative Committee between the Diet and NMI Legislature,” he noted. “There’s a lot to learn and refine in forging lasting economic relationships with our friends from Japan”.

Speaker Fitial was in Manila last weekend where he met with Lucio Tan, owner of the Philippine Airlines, in an effort to persuade PAL to establish direct flights into Saipan from Manila.

“While we work on other direct flights from Japan and Asia, we will continue dialogue with Continental Airlines to revive direct Japan-Saipan flights,” he said. “This regional carrier was really the airline that gave the NMI a greater share of visitor arrivals.”

“It is to our detriment to treat Continental Airlines as an adversary given the long history of being our regional carrier all these years,” Fitial said. “We must learn the basics of forging lasting business relationships with investment partners such as Continental Airlines for it is the only way to maintain a healthy visitor industry,” he said.