The Saipan Chamber of Commerce was referring to a provision of House Bill 17-25 or the Immigration Conformity Act of 2010 which Rep. Rafael S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, sponsored.
Deputy Labor Secretary Jacinta M. Kaipat earlier told lawmakers her office prefers the floating benchmark to ensure that more U.S. citizens and permanent residents get employed in the private sector which currently pays the minimum wage of $4.55 an hour.
Kyle Calabrese, executive director of the chamber, told Demapan who chairs the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, that their members are opposed to the floating benchmark.
“We are particularly concerned about the floating requirement in light of the lack of reliable data since the 2000 decennial census,” Calebrese told Demapan in a letter dated yesterday. “This is an inequitable turn of events for many employers in the commonwealth who have complied with the fixed percentage requirements of Public Law 15-108 and related regulations.”
“We urge the Legislature to retain the minimum percentage requirements contained in Public Law 15-108. The legislative authority to set this policy should not be ceded to a governmental department which has no more timely access to better data than does the Legislature,” he added.
According to Kaipat, the percentage of U.S. qualified persons who can work in the private sector would rise as more foreign workers depart the islands.
Current estimates of U.S. qualified persons peg the number at 40 percent of the total work force.
The CNMI Department of Labor said there are more than 9,000 jobs filled by foreign workers that can be done by U.S. qualified persons.
“We have enough jobs in the commonwealth’s economy at present to employ every single U.S. citizen in the commonwealth who wants a job. We currently have more than 9,000 jobs filled by foreign workers. If the U.S. Census Bureau provided us with the same services they provide to every state and county in the U.S., I could tell you how many unemployed people we have,” she said in her testimony to the Legislature.
But Calabrese said the chamber is not convinced with the Labor data.
He said businesses are already worried about their ability to continue hiring foreign workers.
All foreign workers are allowed to stay in the CNMI up to Nov. 27, 2011 using their locally issued Labor or umbrella permits.
After that date, their employers can only hire them through the more restrictive federal guest worker program.
“We believe that both the federal and local governments, differences of opinion, notwithstanding, share a common goal: the increased employment in the commonwealth of individuals authorized to work in the United States, particularly U.S. citizens. The chamber supports this goal,” said Calabrese.
“However, the commonwealth government has repeatedly maintained that our community lacks the necessary local labor force to maintain and develop our economy. We wholeheartedly agree…. In light of this reality, the employment of foreign workers in the commonwealth is a necessity, not a luxury. We do not believe that employers should be unduly penalized for making use of the necessary hiring of foreign workers. Unfortunately, the act [H.B. 17-25] does not consider this issue,” he added.
H.B. 17-25’s original version was more than 70 pages. The revised version was reduced to 27 pages but it retains the original’s key provisions.
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