‘No more reason for recovery delays’

With many homes still wrecked and roofless from the devastation of Super Typhoon Yutu, it is being hoped that the U.S. Congress’ approval of a bill that green lights 3,000 CNMI-Only Transitional Worker permits for construction workers would speed up disaster recovery work in the CNMI.

“We still have many families living in tents due to the limited construction workers on the islands,” said Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Palacios. She said the passage of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan’s (Ind-MP) H.R. 4479 or Disaster Recovery Workforce Act will “provide remedy for our current construction labor situation.”

She pointed out that recovery on Saipan and Tinian has slowed down since Super Typhoon Yutu.

“As our community continues to experience catastrophic disasters, the need to rebuild quickly and efficiently is dire now more than ever. After experiencing a construction labor shortage since Super Typhoon Soudelor in August 2015, our physical infrastructure was not prepared for the onset of 200-plus mile wind gusts from Super Typhoon Yutu in October 2018. H.R. 4479 would provide remedy for our current construction labor situation, allowing more families to return to safe and secure housing before we experience the next super typhoon,” said Palacios.

With Sablan’s bill, the CNMI can be assured of a construction labor force for a period of three years to help the island infrastructure strengthened to prepare for any future natural disasters, she added.

“For businesses, government agencies, and families alike, increasing our construction labor workforce by 3,000 individuals over the next three years would better prepare the physical infrastructure for future disasters; stabilize our disaster-prone, fluctuating economy; and keep people safe. Children could return to their classrooms rather than spending hours on end learning in tents. Families would no longer have to sleep in tents under extreme weather conditions. Businesses could reopen their establishments, providing revenue to both the Commonwealth and their families. We take the importance of physical protection for granted, but for people struggling to recover in the Commonwealth, they know what having a concrete roof over their heads means for their family’s safety,” she said.

For acting Labor secretary Jeff Camacho, Sablan’s bill is crucial as the CNMI continues to experience a severe lack of construction workers even as it still reels from the destruction of Super Typhoon Yutu in October 2018.

“Over a year after Super Typhoon Yutu devastated our islands, the CNMI is still recovering. After the Philippines was removed from the list of countries eligible for the H-2B program, the CNMI’s long-time source for construction workers dwindled, stalling repairs and construction on damaged homes, businesses, and public institutions. The Department of Labor is grateful for federal support and hopeful that H.R. 4479 will speed efforts,” he said.

In his recent newsletter, Sablan announced last Dec. 23 that H.R. 4479 was accepted as a rider to the fiscal 2020 appropriations bill that U.S. Congress passed and that President Donald J. Trump has promised to sign into law.

“Three thousand more CW permits will be available for typhoon recovery work this year and in 2021 and 2022,” he said.

Sablan’s Disaster Recovery Workforce Act provides the 3,000 new CW permits this year and in 2021 and 2022. The CW permits may only be issued for construction work related to recovery from a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency, such as Typhoon Mangkhut or Super Typhoon Yutu, or to prepare for a future disaster or emergency.

Aside from the 3,000 construction worker permits, the bill will also make available to the CNMI $244 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery as well as $56 million for solid waste, $10.2 million for sewer and water infrastructure, and Economic Development Administration grants to rebuild schools and homes.

“The last thing we want is any delay caused by a lack of workers. Enactment of the Disaster Recovery Workforce Act ensures that will not be a problem. And all the protections for U.S. workers that we wrote into the U.S. Workforce Act last year—from being passed over for jobs to having their wages reduced by competition from foreign workers—will apply to the new disaster recovery workers,” said Sablan.

The workers can be recruited from any country on the Department of Homeland Security’s approved list for 2018, which includes the Philippines.

Sablan introduced the Disaster Recovery Workforce Act in September, after it became apparent that a lack of construction workers was slowing recovery. Both the Chamber and the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands made a case for the extra workforce and supported Sablan’s bill.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, who broke ground on the first house in their Permanent Housing Construction program in September, noted that a lack of workers was a constraint. FEMA had briefed Sablan six months earlier of their plans to start the program and build brand-new, concrete houses for as many as 500 families. Some families have dropped off the waiting list because of the delay in starting the program.

“Now that a lack of workers should not be a problem, I want to see FEMA speed things up. People need to get out of the tents and into real houses that can withstand any future storms,” Sablan said. “The Disaster Recovery Workforce Act makes that possible.”