By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

GARMENT factories can still hire new employees from off-island as replacements for nonresidents in the same positions despite the closure of 13 garment factories and the displacement of hundreds of garment workers since January 2005, provided employers meet the requirements of the alien hiring moratorium law.
Acting Deputy Labor Secretary Alfred A. Pangelinan, however, said that the Department of Labor has discontinued granting job vacancy announcement waivers, or JVA, to garment factories wanting to bring in new workers from off-island as replacements for nonresident workers.
This, he said, started in December with the closure of Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp.
“There are no more JVA waivers for garment worker replacements. Garment employers have to post JVAs if they want to hire employees from off-island,” said Pangelinan, adding that Labor has been stricter in implementing Public Law 11-6, or the alien hiring moratorium law.
This, he said, is to ensure that resident and nonresident garment workers who lost their jobs due to factory closures will be given priority by remaining factories needing additional or replacement workers.
While no government statistics are readily available, some of the remaining garment factories have been bringing in new workers from off-island.
Pangelinan said these factories were allowed to hire from off-island for replacement workers after meeting the requirements of P.L. 11-6, including giving priority to those displaced workers already on island.
But, he said, there were workers who failed to pass the trade or skills tests given by remaining garment factories because of the different skills needed; for example, a garment worker who is knowledgeable about woven fabrics may not necessarily pass a skills test for knit fabrics.
“These garment factories need workers who have the skills called for by their operations,” said Pangelinan.
P.L. 11-6 allows the renewal of a contract of employment of a nonresident worker in an existing position so long as it does not affect the moratorium law. It also allows the hiring of a nonresident to replace another nonresident worker in the same position, provided that the nonresident worker being replaced has been fully accounted for.
At its peak in 1999, Saipan’s garment industry included 34 factories, which generated sales of $1.06 billion.
With15 garment factories remaining now, sales fell to $489 million in 2006, according to Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez in his Feb. 8 testimony before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.