8 DCM workers remain unpaid

Eight foreign workers of the Guam-based DCM Group Inc. have not been getting their wages and overtime pay for almost two months now and are surviving only through donations from religious groups and concerned individuals on Saipan.

The eight mechanical technicians—all Filipinos—are now deep in debt and have failed to remit money to their families back home.

“We are appealing to DCM to give us our wages and overtime. We don’t want to end up filing a lawsuit. We just want the money due us for our families,” one of the mechanical technician told Saipan Tribune. The group agreed to speak with the Tribune as long as their names are not used.

According to the workers, DCM owes them $2,000 each but the company—through its agent on the island—just keeps promising them that the payment would be forthcoming.

The workers received their last paycheck on June 11. They started working for DCM on Feb. 28. They stopped their work at Power Plant 1 in Lower Base on July 10 when the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. terminated DCM’s contract.

The eight said that when nothing happened to the agent’s repeated promises of payment, they decided to proceed to the U.S. Labor’s office last week.

On Friday, six of them filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor’s Federal Ombudsman Office.

“We just want to get paid. We’re going home if we can’t find a job here,” said one worker who served as spokesman of the group.

According to them, they completed the partial overhauling of power engine No. 8, but they failed to complete the dismantling of power engine No. 7 due to lack of parts and time.

The workers disclosed that DCM itself actually has no experience in overhauling engines, that’s why they hired a company from the Philippines.

Most of the eight technicians had worked at the power plants in Lower Base for over 10 years so they knew the problems with the engines. All of them were hired on-island.

They said it was Irene Tantiado of the Coalition of United Workers who helped them a lot by contacting Catholic groups such as Jesus Is Lord and the Salvation Army. The groups gave them rice and canned goods for their daily survival.

The Filipino workers appealed to other organizations and individuals for assistance. They asked those who want to help to contact Tantiado.

CUC terminated in July 2008 the $5.1 million deal with DCM after the company reportedly failed to repair the generators, as required by the contract.

CUC claimed it has already paid DCM over $400,00 under its failed contract.

CUC is now seeking proposals from other companies interested in repairing two of the power generators at Power Plant 1 that were left undone by DCM.