By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

SAIPAN garment factories and their subcontractors have not been independently monitored since January as funding ran out months ahead of the dissolution of the Garment Oversight Board on July 29, 2007 or four years after its creation under the $20 million garment settlement agreement, Variety learned yesterday.
Since 2003, worker living and working conditions, as well as salaries and factory operations, were monitored by international firms contracted by the three-member GOB.
Former Judge Timothy P. Bellas, chairman of the board, yesterday said their contracts with both Global Social Compliance and Verite expired in December.
From over 30 factories and subcontractors that were part of the settlement agreement, the number has since dwindled to less than 20 due to the lifting of the trade quota.
The board was established to protect the rights of workers in the garment industry pursuant to the agreement reached by parties representing workers and the factories, and approved by the federal court.
Bellas said there is $2.4 million to $2.7 million in settlement money that was not distributed to garment workers who were part of the industry settlement agreement long after the deadline to mail and claim these checks on Saipan and in the home countries of the workers like China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand.
The board, he said, is waiting for lawyers and auditors of the parties to the settlement to funnel the remaining funds to the board to do either of the following: to help in finding the recipients of the remaining settlement money, conduct more monitoring of garment factories and their subcontractors, or continue to fund the board’s repatriation of garment workers who were displaced from their jobs less than two years after their arrival on Saipan. Hundreds of garment workers were able to get compensation and were repatriated due to funding from the board.
“We as a board have to make a decision this month…After a review by the auditors, it was determined that the board will expire on July 29, 2007 and not May as earlier thought…The board may continue to exist if we need to distribute checks…sending a representative to China and working with authorities there to distribute checks to former garment workers on Saipan,” Bellas said.
As of February, over $2.3 million of the $5.7 million in garment industry settlement agreement checks that were issued to 29,771 garment workers since Sept. 28, 2006 are unaccounted for — they were neither cashed nor reissued.
Some workers interviewed by Variety expressed disappointment over the small amount of money they received for the violation of their labor rights. Others received from $70 to $2,000.
In 2003, the U.S. District Court for the CNMI approved the $20 million garment settlement agreement that set aside over $5.7 million for distribution to 29,771 garment workers who were members of the class suit alleging violations of wage and hour laws and other rights of garment workers on Saipan.
The settlement agreement resulted from a lawsuit filed against Saipan garment manufacturers and U.S. retailers for violations of U.S. labor laws and international human rights standards.