Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Palacios praised the efforts that are being done by educational institutions in preparing students and other U.S eligible workers to somehow mitigate the labor shortage being experienced under the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker Nonimmigrant visa program or CW1.<\/p>\n
Palacios cited the likes of Latte Training Academy, the Northern Marianas College, the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, and the Public School System in educating students to address the human resources\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n
Latte, in partnership with the Public School System, trains students on the various aspects of the hospitality program. Once they successfully complete the training, the students get certificates from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute. NMC and NMTI have also done their share.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe applaud your efforts in providing training and education to our students and community to address our human resources requirements. Latte and PSS have graduated over 700 high school students since the program started three years ago,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n
\u201cNMC has conferred degrees to over 300 students and NMTI has provided much needed training to our residents in the culinary and hospitality trades. Some of these graduates have entered our workforce and are working for you all.\u201d\u2028<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know that it will take time to provide the human resources required in sustaining our economy; however, we are making progress on our end,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Palacios also praised the Commonwealth Development Authority\u2019s decision to revive the Junior Achievement program in schools. \u201cTeaching the principles of entrepreneurship to our students is essential to inspire them to dream big and to work hard toward their goals. The JA program gives them tools and resources to help each participant to be successful,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n
Palacios and eight other board members were sworn in by Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho in last Saturday\u2019s installation dinner at Fiesta Resort & Spa\u2019s Hibiscus Hall. The event also served as the awarding of SCC\u2019s Business Person of the Year with Triple J Saipan\u2019s vice president for finance and administration Michael S. Sablan receiving the honor.<\/p>\n
Ron Smith of Angil Design (vice president), Docomo Pacific\u2019s Kevin McCale (secretary), Deloitte & Touche\u2019s Michael Johnson (treasurer), and directors Perry Inos Jr. (Triple J Saipan), Donna Krum (Friends First Marketing), Tyrell Pauling (Hyatt Regency Saipan), Alex Sablan (Century Insurance), and Alex K. Youn (AC Pacific) are the other members of the SCC board. Palacios said the CNMI\u2019s economy continues to grow as shown by new airlines offering non-stop flights to Saipan, an increase in tourism numbers, the construction of new hotels and buildings, and opening of other business establishments and restaurant franchises. However, workforce issues continue to hound the CNMI.<\/p>\n \u201cWe face challenges in our workforce. Our CW-1 cap was reached for fiscal year 2016 and 2017. Many businesses were affected and the situation severely impacted their operations. However, that did not stopped us from trying to find alternatives to help us through these challenges as we worked with our government leaders to address our CW-1 program.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue to support the efforts of Gov. [Ralph DLG] Torres and [Delegate] Gregorio Sablan in addressing our CW-1 program. We are in strong support of Sablan\u2019s House Resolution 339 that would provide short term relief to our CW-1 program,\u201d added Palacios.<\/p>\n She said HR 339, if it becomes a law, would also give the business community its much-needed labor resources to support operations and the growing economy. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, HR 339 would provide additional funds for job training and education programs for qualified and skilled U.S. workers in the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n Palacios added the Chamber also supports Torres\u2019 recommendations on the 902 report that aims to address the CNMI\u2019s long term labor requirements. \u201cWe all need to work together to move this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur increased communication with [the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands] and [the Society for Human Resource Management NMI Chapter] has provided a unified front on these issues that have greater impact. A sufficient workforce capacity is required to sustain the CNMI\u2019s growing economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Palacios praised the efforts that are being done by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":245493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[56,26,3303,449],"class_list":["post-245480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-hr","tag-scc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245480","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nOngoing issue<\/strong><\/p>\n