{"id":193240,"date":"2015-03-05T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=193240"},"modified":"2015-03-05T04:00:24","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T18:00:24","slug":"scc-seek-govt-meeting-looming-manpower-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scc-seek-govt-meeting-looming-manpower-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"SCC to seek govt meeting on looming manpower crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Businesses in the Commonwealth may need to have a sit-down meeting with the Inos administration to address a looming manpower crisis.<\/p>\n

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan said the need for the meeting becomes necessary, as he cited a statement of Lt. Ralph DLG. Torres when he said the CNMI needs 11,000 foreign workers.<\/p>\n

\"Saipan<\/a>
Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan speaks during the chamber\u2019s general membership meeting yesterday at the Charley\u2019s Cabaret of the Pacific Islands Club Saipan. (Joel D. Pinaroc)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Torres was in Washington, D.C., last week to attend the Plenary Session of the Inter-Agency Group on Insular Areas where he stated the manpower requirements of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

According to Sablan, the figure that the lieutenant governor gave \u201cwas spot on,\u201d noting that there are approximately 11,400 foreign workers now in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately 11,400 foreign workers is what we have today in the CNMI but if all developers are successful in constructing their rooms, we will need 17,000 foreign workers,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

According to Sablan, based on recent numbers declared by developers that are actively seeking hotel constructions, the number of hotel rooms could swell to 10,000.<\/p>\n

Best Sunshine International, Ltd. alone is projecting some 4,000 rooms.<\/p>\n

The problem becomes apparent, as manpower needed for these hotel developments far exceeds 11,000. \u201cAnd these developments (10,000 rooms) are on Saipan only,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are also developments ongoing on nearby Tinian and Rota.<\/p>\n

CW1 concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sablan further said the CNMI currently has a 13,399 quota for the CW1 visa.<\/p>\n

The number will not increase, but will eventually reach zero, Sablan said, adding that the local population cannot sustain the looming deficit.<\/p>\n

This is the reason the federal government created the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker visa classification, which allows employers in CNMI to apply for temporary permission to employ foreign workers who are otherwise ineligible to work under other nonimmigrant worker categories.<\/p>\n

The CW classification provided a method for transition from the former CNMI foreign worker permit system to the U.S. immigration system.<\/p>\n

However, the issuance of the CW1 visa will stop by 2019, as mandated by the federal government.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the math \u201cdoes not add up\u201d anymore, as there are only a few thousand CW1 visas available, compared to the projected need of 17,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am wondering is whether the CNMI as \u2018public policy\u2019 should pursue 10,000 rooms in the CNMI, given our limitations?\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

The executive said he would recommend that government look into a \u201ccontrolled development and managed growth\u201d strategy to address these manpower concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Businesses in the Commonwealth may need to have a sit-down meeting with the Inos administration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":193242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2377,1707,26,449],"class_list":["post-193240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-alex-sablan","tag-best-sunshine-international","tag-cnmi","tag-scc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}