If all foreign workers leave…
Radiator Springs is a fictional town in the animated movie Cars. It was once a popular stop along Route 66, when tourists were plenty and jobs were abundant. But the town literally vanished when Interstate 40 was constructed. Businesses had to shut down. Residents had to move out.
The CNMI, like Radiator Springs, may go back to its barren state if the CW program ceases. Some may say that is too harsh but think about what could happen. The current population of the CNMI is approximately about 50,000. Some 40 percent of that population is composed of CWs and their families.
Imagine this.
If all foreign workers leave, that would be 40-percent drop in CUC consumers. It could mean a rise in electric bill charges so they can maintain the upkeep of their machines, generators, and plants. That could mean rolling blackouts again and water interruptions.
It could mean a 40-percent drop in gasoline demand. That could mean an increase in gas prices to help continue the import of gasoline to the islands.
It would also mean a 40-percent drop in the number of users of phones, cable, and internet. That could pose an increase in the billing so that they can retain the services that they currently offer.
It would also mean a 40-percent drop in consumers buying store goods. That would also suggest an increase in the prices of goods to pay for the rent and services that proprietors also have to pay.
That would include a 40-percent drop in housing/apartment rentals. Realty businesses would crash. Houses and apartments alike would be empty and abandoned.
Some say they do not need CWs here. They say CWs are taking away the job from the locals. But CW jobs are positions that the local workforce cannot fill because of skills issue (accountants, nurses, engineers, etc.) or menial jobs that they would not be caught working on.
Who do you suppose would fix your cars and houses if most of the mechanics, electricians, plumbers, and construction workers leave? Who would look after your children if workers at the daycare center leaves? Who would cut and fix your hair and do your makeup when the salon workers leave? How about those working in hotels and hospitals?
What about the children of the CWs that represent the islands in international sports and scholastic competition? Read the newspaper, check how many foreign sounding names represent the CNMI in sports and academic meets. That is still CNMI pride right there.
Yes, the CWs need jobs. But truth of the matter is, locals need them as much as the CWs need their jobs. All are interdependent in this matter. This is not a simple us versus them problem. Everyone is involved. Everyone is affected.
Tourism will greatly suffer and that’s where most of the income of the island comes from. Will those skeptics be just as happy living off on federal grants and food stamps than working alongside other nationalities so that our community can thrive?
Wouldn’t you rather flourish and succeed on your own than continue to live on hand-me-downs because the government could no longer support its own? The CNMI is very privileged to be getting federal grants. Yes, privilege and not a right. And that privilege can be taken away at anytime.
As the debate about the ongoing CW cap heats up, we would do well to remember that we are all on an island, under the protection of the United States of America, where it has always been a place of freedom and refuge from poverty and persecution.
Be smart. Help others understand. Support the CW program and sign the ongoing petition.
Sarah Perez
Navy Hill, Saipan
While I agree with most of the information you’ve presented in your argument, your numbers are tremendously skewed. I find it hard to believe that the foreign worker/local population is at a 2/5 ratio, respectively. If I am wrong, I apologize and please point me in the direction where I can find supporting documents to support your claim of that ratio.
At the end of the day, I can only agree with you that the CW program is a huge issue that we should all be tackling together regardless of origin.
Bravo, this is the key point. A serious reduction of consumers ALONE would be a financial and logistical crisis in the CNMI. Combine that with a wipeout of various trade sectors, this will be a humanitarian crisis people cannot fathom. Yes people have been through hard times here. Yes people have been through austerity. My fear is that the CNMI population believes this is as bad as it gets, its not. It can get much worse. We’re on that path now.
I agree it does look bad. But also you have to agree that the reasons for continual reliance on cheap labor are wearing thin…we aren’t educated, we need training, because of the economic crisis too many people have left we need them to fill the gap, we are planning for a better economy so need to build an infastructure, our economy is growing so we need them to help maintain the growth, we need them for new industry and construction, our economy is strong we want to maintain that and need more time, Now we need to keep large population numbers to maintain consumers for current retail……… But all along the system has been abused and costly . Even I think the excuses are sounding…well thin… and I live here and know how much we depend on CW but can’t see mainlanders listening to this forever.
Simple supply and demand. Why would they overcharge to provide less? Maybe at first to cope, overcharge, but eventually they will provide less electricity, import less petrol, and water consumption won’t be so high. Sometimes it’s good to not dwell too much on the negative. I signed the petition for the extention by the way, so in no way am i trying to counter your statements.
That is a pretty big imagination you have.
What if we actually started hiring more U.S. Citizens and truly started making a better CNMI and all we have to due is abolish the CW program.
Replace CW’s with U.S. citizens that way we don’t have a decline in population and we actually abide by the federal government.
The CW program is a privilege and the CNMI does not need CW employee’s to get federal grants.
Your are on track-I find it unlikely that the employers reached out top or even offered to train US Citizens. It seems that the employers want foreign slaves rather than to improve the lives of those who live there. Specialist can always be brought in from the States and they can train skill that are lacking. Building a sustainable work force and culture should be the priority for all territory. The economic value of CW is almost nill with very little money put back into the community as 90% of CW earnings are sent back to their home country.
CW! CW! CW! The attorney’s article yesterday was spot on. None of our Lawlessmakers/Legislators have pursued the HB Visa options and I believe that: (1) foreign investors only want to hire their own kind and (2) They are accustomed to the easily abused CW Program. The regulations governing the HB Visa Programs are very defined and almost impossible to manipulate. Maybe some suffering is the only means to wake us up? MERRY CHRISTMAS it may be our last. Nine wasted years of doing nothing will be the cause. I don’t believe my reply to the attorney’s article yesterday was posted (Censorship Perhaps)?
you took the words right out of the mouth. To get an H-1B visa you need to have a specialty occupation which is in high demand in the United States, so I’m sure that the construction workers needed in the CNMI could therefore switch visas to that considering its definitely in high demand.
To the people who keep saying hire more U.S. Citizens or bring in specialists from the states I have to ask have you ever personally run a successful business in the CNMI? Well it’s not as easy as you think. If working in the CNMI was such a good deal don’t you think that mainlanders would be flocking to our shores?
The author of the article has a lot of interesting insights. Time will tell on whether things will be better or worse without CW’s, but my bet is worse.
Any U.S. Citizens out there want to clean the toilets at my business? Positions are available, no experience necessary.
The title is misleading. All foreigners will not leave. The CNMI already has the right to bring in most of the foreign skilled workers it needs . I believe there is a path to retaining some CW in the future but the foundation needs to be built and time is running out. A serious effort to training and recruiting US citizens and those from other islands that are legally able to work without temporary visas needs to be made. Overstaying tourist workers and CW need to be sent home. Fact is we may need and depend on CW but the process has been abused and corrupt and costly for a long time. Clean it up. Regulate it. Then maybe it could be extended. Continue to allow abuse and corruption and ask for extension after extension and the answer we know will stay “NO”.
“menial jobs that (locals) would not be caught working on.” This really says a lot. And when you say “locals,” I’m going to assume you mean Chamorrans.
CW-1s were never meant to supply no skill/low skill workers that could be filled locally. H1-Bs are for skilled jobs, and there may be a legitimate interest in that. And yet, there should be training programs in place to develop those skills for locals. In fact there have been multiple grants awarded to CNMI just for that purpose.
“Locals” have a fear that their long standing cash cow might disappear – underpaying and exploiting foreign workers to enrich themselves. But there is a greater and far more terrifying fear. That 20,000 US citizens might finally wrest away political and economic control from them.
CNMI would be better for it in the long run. Virtually everything the locals have touched from the Settlement fund to the CUC have been abject failures. But that’s the price of progress.
The NMI doesn’t have the numbers nor skilled workers we find in CWs. To pin the issue down to some meaningful discussion, let’s begin by planning our future upon which we could tell what our needs are for CWs. Without a plan, it’s as good as second-guessing it like the current practice–more talk!
I agree we don’t have the numbers, but we have some numbers. And we have received over 9 million in US federal grants for training and improving local worker skills.
Its CHAMORROS no chamorrans, and locals also include Carolinians, born and raised CWs children, FSM and other mainlanders who have come to call this place home. and when you say everything the “locals” have touched have been failures, I’ll safely assume you mean politicians like the corrupts politicians that trickle the entire planet. Which locals are you referring to that underpay and exploit foreign workers? Majority of businesses owned here that employ foreign workers are themselves foreign and not local. So according to you locals are getting rich while paying these foreigners low wages @@(thats me rolling my eyes)