In terms of finding a long-term solution to the Commonwealth\u2019s current labor dilemma, it would be better for CNMI officials to unite and focus their attention on the recommendations in the Section 902 report, according to Senate President Arnold I. Palacios (R-Saipan).<\/p>\n
The report is already with U.S. congressional leaders, submitted to them early this year. The recommendations arose after a series of consultations and meetings between CNMI and federal government panels, led by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and former Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia\u2019aina.<\/p>\n
And Palacios, who was a member of the CNMI panel as the Senate Federal Relations and Independent Agencies Committee chair, hopes that Congress would finally act on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should focus on the\u2026extension [of the CW-1 program] and the major provisions of [the 902 report],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Among the 902 report\u2019s recommendation is extending the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program (CW-1) by 10 more years and increasing the CW-1 cap. <\/p>\n
The Commonwealth is expected to again experience labor problems after the CW-1 cap for fiscal year 2018 was breached last week, for the third straight fiscal year.<\/p>\n
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on May 25 that they have already received enough number of CW-1 petitions\u2014the 12,998 numerical limit\u2014for transitional workers in fiscal year 2018.<\/p>\n
Permanent status for long-term guest workers is also one of the recommendations made by both panels. The provision would give those who are eligible to gain lawful permanent resident status with a path to citizenship.<\/p>\n
Palacios said a lot of workers under the CW-1 visa have been in the CNMI for 10 years or more and have occupied CW-1 slots. \u201cThey have kids. There are also [workers] who have kids that have graduated from college and came back here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not be a popular decision to make, but we have the pieces to these puzzle. Why don\u2019t you take this 3,000 [or more] CW-1 slots occupied by long-term 10-year [guest] residents and give them status? It would open up slots on the CW-1 cap and you could still retain the skills here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palacios said that almost the same thing is happening in Japan now, with the Japanese government relaxing their tight policies and bringing in foreign laborers. \u201cThere are Filipinos working in duty-free shops, which you can\u2019t see a few years ago. \u2026It is a changing world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Justo S. Quitugua (Ind-Saipan) added that Japan is realizing that their population is growing old. \u201cAnd they are not having babies, the young generation doesn\u2019t want to have babies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young generation prefers to work. Both men and women spend 16 hours a day working. They have no time for babies. They are trying to revive their population since they are beginning to experience shortage on labor.\u201d Palacios also questioned where the federal government was when the CNMI\u2019s economy was floundering, especially after the garment industry moved to other countries that have cheaper labor costs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the system collapsed, where were the feds to help us recover? \u2026That was scary\u2014a 64-hour payroll period and even CW-1 workers that were legal could not find full-time jobs because stores and other businesses were cutting down hours,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically hit rock bottom. But we\u2026picked ourselves up with our bootstraps. We have to do something about this. We\u2019re at the tail end of depression. On Sundays, you can\u2019t see many cars on the roads, because a lot of people can\u2019t afford gas.\u201d<\/p>\n Quitugua echoed the same sentiments. \u201cOur people were leaving. They were leaving because life here was bad. They were either going to Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose that we sent to school don\u2019t want to return because there is no life for them here. It doubled the impact the labor issues against our people, going away to look for better opportunities,\u201d said Quitugua.<\/p>\n USCIS, every year, has to reduce the numerical cap as businesses need to transition their workers to other U.S. eligible work visas. It was cut to 18,000 initially then reduced to 15,000 and to 12,998.<\/p>\n Things began to pick up when the Korean market arrivals started to improve. \u201cThe big factor that took us over the hump is the casino. Now, we need the manpower for this economy. Do we have the audacity to think of that? It is in the 902 report.\u201d<\/p>\n Palacios added that Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) should have introduced a bill in U.S. House of Representatives that includes some of the recommendations made in the 902 report. \u201cKilili should have introduced a bill that takes the 902 component and put it in the congressional bill for long-term solution.<\/p>\n Old data<\/strong><\/p>\n Sen. Sixto K. Igisomar (R-Saipan) said the CW-1 dilemma is a federal issue that is flawed. \u201cTo be politically correct, the formula used was flawed and the decision was flawed. The decision of federalization, and reduction of manpower and labor is based on past data, without anticipating the growth of [gross domestic product].\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe CW-1 issue is a souffl\u00e9 gone bad. Apparently, someone did not cook it right or too many chefs or the cook was listening to someone who only eats without knowing how to whip an egg.\u201d<\/p>\n He added those who are involved in implementing the program from the federal government did not anticipate that the CNMI economy would soon improve.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [feds] expected the GDP to remain downwards. The reduction of manpower was based when the CNMI\u2019s economy, back then, was going down. They did not anticipate labor demand to increase and the economy would rebound.\u201d<\/p>\n Igisomar said it is time for the federal government to change its policies. \u201cNow that they have seen a change of formula, they must adjust accordingly. It was based on economic data back then. That data now has changed. It is for the best interest that they must adjust. The variables have changed.\u201d In terms of finding a long-term solution to the Commonwealth\u2019s current labor dilemma, it would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[26,170,163,21],"class_list":["post-253455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-cnmi","tag-japan","tag-kids","tag-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253455","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=253455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018Where were the feds?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"