{"id":376471,"date":"2022-09-23T06:02:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T20:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=376471"},"modified":"2022-09-23T06:02:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T20:02:13","slug":"cnmi-faces-new-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cnmi-faces-new-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"CNMI faces new challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Vicky Benavente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the CNMI workforce has only started to get back on its feet following multiple typhoons and an ongoing pandemic, it now faces a new challenge in the form of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services\u2019 recently implemented \u201ctouchback\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CNMI Department of Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente, she said it will be another great challenge for the CNMI\u2019s labor workforce to overcome the inevitable exodus of hundreds of CNMI-Only Transitional workers due to the \u201ctouchback\u201d policy which will take effect starting Sept. 30, 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so dependent on our CW workers, so this is going to be a challenge as the CNMI as a whole and our economy is just beginning to recover from the pandemic and its economic effects. We\u2019re really feeling the pinch more and more as we already had a shortage of workers [to begin with],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This] particular exodus is really going to affect us because this means less hands to work in our economy, less working, able bodied hands, qualified, experienced skilled hands, that we all need to run our economy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

However, Benavente said she is confident the CNMI is up for the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough time, but I believe we\u2019re up to the challenge. We have some students who are graduating from high school and we have some returning residents who want to come back home and help with the challenges that we are facing in the CNMI. So it\u2019s a good time for recovery,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The DOL secretary said she is also confident in the efforts CNMI DOL has made in the past three years in preparation for this inevitable loss of CW-1 workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had three years to prepare. The CNMI Department of Labor has been helping our business entities with preparing for the expected exodus of contract workers. What we\u2019ve been doing is posting as many job vacancy announcements as we can for local businesses to try and attract local, qualified, U.S. resident workers. Although we\u2019ve been preparing, you can never be prepared for a pandemic. So that kind of threw us off track. But we have prepared as much as we can with skills development training, educating our workforce, and sharing all our local businesses\u2019 concerns with our federal partners. So we have been preparing especially these past three years,\u201d the secretary said.<\/p>\n

In addition to providing training and educating the local population, Benavente said DOL is also in the process of submitting a letter to USCIS to relay the many concerns raised by local business as a result of the new touchback policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am actually drafting a letter to USCIS, voicing concerns that we\u2019ve received from the public sector and private sector companies. We are drafting concerns that have been brought to us so that we can continue to communicate with our federal partners because they can\u2019t do this just from watching what\u2019s going on. They need to hear from the CNMI\u2019s key stakeholders like the government and private sectors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Benavente said DOL is doing all it can to but while communication remains ongoing, she also encourages businesses to comply with the new policy even though it may be hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize the concerns and implications that this has on a business because it also has an implication and impact on the economy. But I would also like to encourage all businesses to follow the intent of the law. The labor laws, the U.S. labor laws as we continue to communicate with our federal partners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the CNMI workforce has only started to get back on its feet following multiple…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":376472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-376471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-cnmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376471","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}