By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE 20 nonresidents the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. hired for it main power plant still don’t know whether they could continue to work for CUC, according to its spokeswoman Pamela Mathis.
CUC is not the foreign workers’ direct employer, and this is why the agency saves money in terms of personnel expenses.
“They have lower salaries although they are highly skilled. It’s a huge savings to the government,” said Mathis. “They don’t have all the fringe benefits that CUC employees get.”
The foreign workers are hired by CUC through Felipe Atalig’s manpower agency, Casa de Felipe.
CUC wanted to renew its contract with Atalig but the Legislature has yet to approve the request.
Mathis said the foreign workers were the ones who fixed CUC’s troubled engine last week after it triggered hours of power outages around on Saipan.
She said they hired them for at least a day to finish the job.
“Unit No. 3 was fixed that day and they were advised that they could be used again,” she said.
At least one of the foreign workers contracted for CUC said he is paid the minimum wage of $3.55 an hour.
Last month, the Legislature adopted Senate Joint Resolution 15-23 which approved the governor’s certification of vacant positions for CUC.
The resolution endorsed only the hiring of two CUC personnel — a laboratory technician and laboratory supervisor.
“The aforementioned positions are either in the middle of the recruitment process, have been vacated recently and cannot be left unfilled, or have been identified by federal agencies as being critical to CUC,” the resolution stated.
Under Public Law 15-28 as amended by P.L. 15-71, new hires, including contract renewals, for any agency of the cash-strapped government, must be approved first by both houses of the Legislature.
Mathis said the service of alien workers for CUC is crucial to the stability of the power situation on island.
“We would choose to keep the lights on,” she said.