THE Saipan Chamber of Commerce supports U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho’s efforts to delay the implementation of the proposed minimum wage increase in the CNMI.
Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Joe C. Guerrero speaks during the chamber’s meeting in the Hyatt ballroom on Wednesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
Although the $15 minimum wage proposal is likely to be taken out of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Democrats are expected to introduce it in a separate measure.
Kilili, who caucuses with the Democrats, earlier said he would introduce a bill to delay for 18 months the implementation of a federal wage hike in the CNMI.
In his letter to Kilili on Tuesday, Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Joe C. Guerrero said the business group commends and supports the congressman’s proposed legislation to commission a comprehensive U.S. Government Accountability Office study that will determine the feasibility of a CNMI minimum wage increase, and “explore sustainable wage policies for our remote and unique island economy, which is markedly different compared to that of the mainland United States.”
“With the unfortunate and devastating economic effects of the recent Typhoons Soudelor and Mangkhut, Super Typhoon Yutu, the downturn in tourism, and now the coronavirus pandemic, there is no better time than now to cautiously approach wage policies that would hinder our gradual and long-term recovery efforts,” Guerrero said.
He said, “Our members have reported that if wages were increased as proposed [in the U.S. Congress] they would have few immediate options other than to reduce work hours, [lay off] personnel, or even close their business.”
Guerrero added that a majority of businesses in the CNMI are unable to absorb major shifts in personnel costs on top of the expected price increases from their suppliers and vendors as a result of such a minimum wage increase.
“Similar to the GAO minimum wage studies and reports conducted in American Samoa in 2016 and 2020, we trust that an independent non-partisan examination of the Northern Marianas’ economy, gross domestic product per capita, unemployment rate, wages and other indicators would lead us toward a sound policy on minimum wage,” Guerrero said.
