Bill to shorten workweek filed
A Senate measure to shorten the governmental workweek has been filed during the last Senate session in mid-December 2017.
Sen. Sixto Igisomar’s (R-Saipan) Senate Bill 20-85 seeks to establish a 30-hour workweek for non-essential government employees. Specifically, a non-essential government employee would be expected to work from 9am to 3pm from Monday to Friday, if the measure gets enacted.
According to the bill, the intent of shortening the workweek is to promote healthy families for employees to care for their children from 7am to 9am and from 3pm to 5pm. The bill states that the intention of a shorter workweek is also to allow for an allowance for government employees to take care of personal tasks or errands in the daytime as well as encourage employees to enjoy fishing and farming during the weekdays.
On the CNMI government’s side, the shorter workweek means reduced utility bill expenses. Utilizing a six-hour workday would yield “substantial savings” from the utility bill for power and water used from 7:30am to 9am and 3pm to 5pm. Related operational expenditures such as office supplies, gas consumption, and more would be reduced with a six-hour workday.
Citing workday hours in the mainland U.S.A. as well as those in Europe, flexible work schedules have resulted in “happier, healthier, and more productive employees.”
With lower work hours, S.B. 20-85 also has a provision inserted that would adjust the salaries for vacant or new non-essential employee positions to comply with a 30-hour workweek and shall take effect in the next fiscal year after the enactment of the bill. Regarding overtime, the special rate of 1.5 percent additional pay would be implemented for hours worked beyond 40 hours per week.
Included in S.B. 20-85 are provisions that mandate the Department of Finance to establish online systems for the filing of businesses and licensing documents as well as making payments of government taxes and fees.
The provision was inserted since a 30-hour workweek is for sure to affect the services such as business licensing and tax and fee payments. According to S.B. 20-85, the projected savings from the lower work hours could be used to establish online systems to promote convenient and efficient online filing of documents payments.
So everyone currently employed would work for 30 hours, but get paid for 40?
YEP
I read the entire article, but it made no mention if we have to take a pay cut with the proposed reduction in work hours. If that was the case then I am not in favor of this proposed law. I mean get real! Our WGI ban was just recently lifted.
So Funny, it would seem that all of this “good economy” is not so good after all.
This is all smoke and mirrors. Also it would seem that our elected have been spending what money has been coming in and now find themselves in trouble for the coming year and cannot make their projections.
It would also seem that this Casino is not as such as it touts itself to be and the money is not there as so many have suspected. This was/is only a short infusion into the economy. As many have stated, only the elected and certain families have prospered, NOW the average worker will further suffer the consequences. Back to the Fitial days. OH wait, this has been just a carry over from that past Admin anyway.
With couch potato culture rots of rock Sixto!
Island time
Will they shorten the pay as well?
NOPE
In the US they do not decrease the work week hours, they decrease the number of days worked. Get the lie right. We have a Labor crisis facing us head on, crime is on the rise, unemployment is up, and this is the best members of government can come up with? A classic demonstration of incompetence. You spend more time trying to figure out how not to do work than doing the work. This is just unbelievable. They can’t do an honest days work now, and you want to make it shorter. Very amusing. They must think we are all idiots like them. Where is the savings if you adjust wages for the shorter week ? Get paid the same for 30 hrs as you would for 40. You all should just quietly close the door behind you, lock it and throw away the key.
Not a good idea. There’s very little work getting done the first few hours of each day as people drink coffee, eat donuts and chew. So, reducing the workday to six hours will result in lower productivity, since people will still fritter away the first hour or so. Why not go to a four-day work week of 32 hours? Every week would have a three-day weekend! If offices need to be open five days a week, stagger the shifts so some workers are on Monday through Thursday, and some work Tuesday through Friday.
Why don’t you start the cut at the legislature first? Part time legislators and less congressmen
This will be a natural byproduct of SB 20-62 anyway. He’s just trying to coverup before it comes to fruition. People will not be able to get up and report to work at 0730 after too much 420 and will need off early because they will be jonesing for a toke by 1500…
Ok.. So at a time when the CNMI is faced with the potential crisis of loosing the vast majority of our work force, how stupid can a legislators be to come up with a bill designed not to raise the bar or reinforce / encourage our locals to have the highest standards of work ethic, but rather perpetuate a mentality of fishing and fun before productivity.
I and I believe many would have been more supportive of this initiative had the article and the bill stated the primary purpose of shortening the hours was to trim government expenses (a true republican approach)… Seriously? So people can fish, play, sleep a little later, drink a little longer? Are you kidding me? How well do you think that will play out in DC as we try to get our agenda thru to find a permanent solution to our potential workforce crisis. I swear, you guys on the hill have to be just about as stupid as they come with absolutely ZERO forward thinking..
“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” What kind of character do we want our youth to have? What is the example we want to set for the youth of the CNMI in an economy that relies on immigrants to do most of the work here?
#idiotsonthehill