CNMI sighs temporary relief over minimum wage

House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial on Saturday expressed relief over reports that the U.S. Congress is deferring action on legislation that would raise minimum wage in the CNMI at par with the federal level.

But he said the island government would not relax its efforts to block any federal takeover attempt, noting any legislative action in Washington D.C. favorable to the Commonwealth is a result of its lobbying campaign.

Reports from the nation’s capital have indicated that measures hiking minimum wage across the country, including the CNMI, are not expected to be passed in the next few weeks because of next month’s U.S. elections.

This means that an attempt by key Democrat members of Congress to include the islands in the proposal would have to be deferred as well until the next session.

“That’s the best part of it that it does not include or impact the CNMI,” Mr. Fitial told reporters in an interview after the inaugural session of the 3rd Youth Congress Saturday at the House chamber.

He said CNMI leaders have continued to express their opposition against federalizing the minimum wage law here, adding such actions have been favorable to the islands.

“We will never stop lobbying against those anti-CNMI legislation,” said Mr. Fitial.

CNMI House representatives early this month have formally sought intervention from U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to halt the move by Democrats to begin the process of federalizing minimum wage law here.

They noted that there has been no study made to assess impact of federal minimum wage to the islands. Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has also renewed his appeal against any federal legislation on local minimum wage.

Democrat lawmakers have asked Mr. Hastert to include CNMI in the bills pending in Congress, stressing that the CNMI has been provided enough time and leeway to reach the federal minimum wage level for the past 14 years since officially joining the United States’ political family in 1986.

At present, minimum wage in the CNMI is $3.05 per hour, while the federal rate is $5.15 per hour. Most of nonresident workers on the islands are minimum wage earners.

But Saipan Chamber of Commerce President Lynn Knight has warned against the legislated increase in the minimum wage, saying it would force many of the businesses to shut down and lay off workers.

The local business community has repeatedly opposed any increase in minimum wage claiming that most of them are already paying close to, if not the $5.15 federal minimum wage because of subsidies they give on food, housing and transportation to their nonresident workers.

Several measures have been introduced for the past few years in Congress seeking extension of the federal minimum wage to the CNMI, but none has yet gone on the floor for voting.