{"id":302848,"date":"2019-07-05T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=302848"},"modified":"2019-07-05T06:00:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:00:31","slug":"perfect-storm-for-cnmi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/perfect-storm-for-cnmi\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 for CNMI"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cperfect storm\u201d is what CNMI Department of Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente describes the issues currently besetting the CNMI as the islands attempt to understand the ramifications of new regulations for the CNMI-Only Nonresident Worker program and await what shape and form Public Law 115-218 ends up.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Benavente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Signed just last week, P.L. 115-218 gave status to over a thousand people with humanitarian parole.<\/p>\n

Add to that the Philippines\u2019 removal from the H-2B program, and the local Labor chief didn\u2019t hesitate to paint an uncertain picture of where the CNMI is headed for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I mean perfect storm, it means everything is coming from all directions\u2014Prevailing Wage [Survey], H-2B\u2026the Philippines was removed from the list of eligible workers [under the H-2B program] and where do we get most of our construction workers, the Philippines. We\u2019re right in the middle of recovery eight months after Yutu. We\u2019re not ready to let go of construction workers,\u201d she said in an interview with Saipan Tribune<\/em> last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

For starters, Benavente said the Interim Final Rule for the CW program\u2014all 160 pages of it\u2014could be a difficult read for some.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been talking with the U.S. Department of Labor regarding other issues like the new Interim Final Rule. Using the IFR, there are four steps and local Labor is involved in Step 3. But we have a lot of questions on the IFR,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benavente said CNMI Labor also has a lot of questions regarding the Prevailing Wage Survey component of the Interim Final Rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have a Prevailing Wage Survey that just came out after the typhoon and how many companies actually responded and for how many positions? It\u2019s really a very low number because if you have 35 construction companies and only 10 responded, your wages are going to be high. Instead of paying $10 an hour we will be paying $17 an hour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benavente said she spoke with many of the affected companies and they told her they either would reduce work hours or reduce manpower because of the new CW program and its requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome even said they will close shop and go somewhere else that is business-friendlier. These are retail stores, mom-and-pop stores, and heavy equipment renters\u2026 the average businessmen who said they just can\u2019t afford the higher wages. This is sad because these small businesses are the backbone of our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benavente has appealed to U.S. Labor to postpone the PWS requirement in the CW program but was rebuffed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told to \u2018follow the law,\u2019\u201d she told Saipan Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the CNMI\u2019s problems are not actually grounded on the issue of immigration but rather on the economy and how the Commonwealth would rebound following Yutu, according to Benavente.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things are happening that we don\u2019t have too much control\u2026what we\u2019re talking about is not so much the issue of immigration, but the issue on the economy, our tourism industry specifically, which is very dependent on [foreign] workers\u2026\u201d she said while stressing that the CNMI would always be dependent on foreign workers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough U.S. citizens for our labor needs\u2014more than 37,000-39,000 job openings and only how many U.S. citizens available to fill those jobs. [We only have] a drop in the bucket and not enough,\u201d Benavente added.<\/p>\n

With regards to the H-2B program and how the CNMI has been deprived of Philippine construction workers, Benavente said she actually asked her federal partners to at least exempt the CNMI from certain provisions of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have 500 homes still not repaired due to lack of construction workers,\u201d she said, adding that due to the H-2B ban on Filipino workers, some have actually gone underground and are charging $20\/hour and this translates to lost taxes and further losses to the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A \u201cperfect storm\u201d is what CNMI Department of Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente describes the issues…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":302860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-302848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302848","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}