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Heinz: Minimum wage proposal isn’t cure all
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Posted on Aug 02 2005
Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider says that he is concerned that much of the community discussion of his and other minimum wage proposals have favored overly complicated, government-based schemes that stand little chance of winning Legislative passage or giving relief to CNMI workers anytime soon.
Hofschneider said the so-called ‘three-tiered’ system that the Saipan Chamber of Commerce favors, but that the administration apparently abandoned, is an example of this.
“The more I hear about this kind of system, the more tiers it seems to develop and the more complexity it adds, the more worried I get. I would like to see a system that minimizes government involvement and need for ‘interpretation’ and removes the discriminatory mandated benefits that are given to nonresident workers, but denied to local counterparts,” he said.
“Simpler is better in this area,” Hofschneider said. “Level the playing field at the lower end of the wage scale with the $5 hourly rate and let employers and workers negotiate on matters such as health insurance and other living arrangements.”
“The point is employers need workers and this may very well make it a lot more attractive to hire locally and will cause all parties to operate more efficiently, including government.”
Hofschneider said that the administration wants to return to phased hourly wage increases while leaving the underlying requirements that employers be 100 percent responsible for employee health care and provide a number of other mandated benefits.
“The amount of the increased minimum wage is no where near as important as getting rid of the numerous other requirements that have been rolled into this system over the years,” Hofschneider said. (PR)
