The number of foreign workers that can be brought to Guam depends on the value of the project’s contract and contractors are barred to recruit H2B workers from certain countries like China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Thailand.
Greg S. Massey, administrator of the Guam Department of Labor’s Alien Labor Processing and Certification Division, and David Dell’Isola, director of the department’s Agency for Human Resources Development, said Guam doesn’t want to supplant local workers.
The two said the number of H2B workers that companies can bring in to the territory depends on the projects they are working on.
For instance, a construction firm awarded a $100,000 contract will be able to bring in just two H2B workers to Guam.
“If you have a $100,000 contract, it doesn’t make sense to bring in 50 H2B workers but if you have a $500 million contract then you can bring in a couple of hundreds, depending on the dollar amount of your contract,” said Dell’Isola.
The number of H1 visa-holders are also anticipated to increase on Guam as contractors bring in professionals like engineers and accountants.
There are currently 1,922 foreigners with H2B visas on Guam.
3,132 U.S. workers are currently employed by the island’s construction industry.
Massey, however, noted that these include those from the CNMI, American Samoa and the Freely Associated States — Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
Furthermore, the figure reflects only those reported by some construction companies and not the entire industry.
Delay
Unemployment on Guam stands at 9.3 percent — lower than the national rate.
But the two Labor officials said business has also been slow on Guam although compared to other places in the U.S., Guam’s labor situation is “good” thanks to the island’s stable military and tourism-based economy.
The buildup, which will cost Japan and the U.S. at least $10 billion, is expected to generate more economic activities on the island.
The question though is when it’s going to happen.
Dell’Isola and Massey said what people should understand is that the U.S. military just completed the review process of the draft environmental impact assessment or DEIS.
The next step is to come up with the final EIS.
Massey said the U.S. military is looking at recruiting up to 12,000 H2B workers.
“When that’s going to be? We don’t know yet because we are seeing that the buildup has pushed back a little bit.
It’s supposed to start this year but it might be delayed because the environmental impact study is not yet done.
They are looking at 12,000 but that’s just for military construction,” he said.
If the regular private sector growth is factored in, Massey said: “We’re looking at 15,000 to 20,000 H2 workers. We don’t foresee it much higher than that at all.”
Massey’s office deals with the recruitment of aliens on Guam.
“They first must apply for a temporary labor certification with our office. There’s an intensive recruitment process for U.S. workers. So, if there aren’t sufficient U.S. workers, then we will issue a labor certification which the employer would take and file with the [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services],” he said.
“If the USCIS approves the petition, then they can hire their foreign workers. They will approach the U.S. embassy, and it could be in Manila or wherever, and then get a visa. Once the H2B workers arrive on Guam, they have to register with our office,” he added.
The H2B visa for Guam, however, is only for the island.
“You can only work on Guam. You cannot bring in an H2 worker in Guam and have that worker work in Hawaii,” said Massey.
The Guam Contractors Association is pushing for safety standards for the anticipated influx of H2B workers — the largest since the end of World War II.
“What’s probably going to happen is that the majority of the H2 workers would be set up in very large housing camps. They won’t be scattered all over the place. There would be two or three super camps for them. There, they would have all the facilities they need. It would be gated,” said Dell’Isola.
“The private sector is coming up with this. Large camps with really high standards. They don’t want substandard housing. They want them to be fed properly. Provide medical care,” he added.
Democratic Sen. Judith Guthertz, assistant majority leader and chairwoman of the Committee on the Guam Military Buildup and Homeland Security, said the people of Guam want to host foreign workers the right way.
“We don’t want Guam to be a microcosm of the CNMI in terms of foreign labor [abuse],” she said.
The CNMI’s hourly minimum wage rate is set at $4.55 while Guam is at $7.25.
H2B workers, however, will be paid based on the prevailing wage rates which are higher than Guam’s minimum wage rate.
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