TINIAN\u2014After implementing a one-hour workhour reduction for two weeks now, Mayor Jose P. San Nicolas plans to further cut his employees\u2019 work time by up to three hours \u201cif worse comes to worst.\u201d <\/p>\n
In an interview, San Nicolas said that he may further reduce the workhour by two or three hours a day, depending on the personnel\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n
Under his proposal, those who are earning $18,000 to $30,000 will be cut by two hours and those earning over $30,000 to $50,000 will be cut by three hours.<\/p>\n
Those getting a salary of $18,000 below will be spared.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said his proposed reduction would be \u201cfair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fair to cut those getting $18,000 by three hours. If you deduct three hours from $50,000, it\u2019s going to be fair,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said, though, that he would consult with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and the Office of Management and Budget on his proposal.<\/p>\n
He said yesterday that OMB sees it as \u201creasonable\u201d but he is holding off on the work hour reduction, pending further study.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t have to take that measure, we\u2019ll stick to the one hour reduction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also said he would have to wait for the Executive Branch to implement its work hour reduction plan, which he said would affect department employees on Tinian, not municipal employees.<\/p>\n
There are some 151 personnel working at the Mayor\u2019s Office. They all began working for only seven hours a day since Feb. 13.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, San Nicolas said, OMB advises his office to look at other expenditures to cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still thinking. We\u2019re still cutting unnecessary expenditures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An employee who asked for anonymity, said that the one-hour reduction is \u201ctoo hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult, especially for someone like me, a single parent, who has to pay my credit [card], my bills, my rent,\u201d said the employee.<\/p>\n
Peter Manglona, a father of four, said the reduced workhour is hard but he can put up with it \u201cas long as they don\u2019t lay off people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Linan echoed this, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s hard but as he said, it\u2019s better than being laid off.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mayor San Nicolas said he has to take drastic actions \u201cto prevent layoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
$250,000 savings<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said that, since his assumption to office, the municipal government has saved $250,000 by implementing cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n
This, he said, does not include the one-hour workhour reduction that took effect on Feb. 13.<\/p>\n
He said that since his inauguration in January 2006, he immediately implemented a cost-cutting plan. This included cutting cellular phones, travels, and personal use of public vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come to the office and go home using your own vehicle. Use the office car while doing your job but not for personal errands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said the Tinian government receives some $13 million in annual appropriation from the central government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After implementing a one-hour workhour reduction for two weeks now, Mayor Jose P. San Nicolas plans to further cut his employees\u2019 work time by up to three hours \u201cif worse comes to worst.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98510","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}