“CUC’s understanding of the requirements is that we can employ no more than 30 foreign national workers through Sept. 30, 2011,” he said.
Currently, CUC has 28 foreign workers and all of their contracts will expire on or before Nov. 27, 2011, after which only 15 will be retained from Nov. 28, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012, he added.
CUC human resources manager Frankie Cepeda said before the enactment of P.L. 17-36, they had 38 foreign workers, most of whom were assigned to the power plant in Lower Base.
This month, he said, 10 contracts will expire but only two will be extended up to September.
Fletcher said CUC will have to make hard decisions when choosing the 15 foreign workers who will be retained.
“We plan a combination of attrition and selection of workers key to our service delivery,” he added.
He noted that their foreign employees have resided legally in the CNMI for years and some have been employed by CUC for a long time.
Two have been with CUC for 17 and 20 years now and are considered key employees, Fletcher said.
“These are very serious decisions as they affect the livelihoods of good workers, community members and their families,” he added.
When asked if CUC will ask the Legislature to amend P.L. 17-36, Fletcher said that “it is something that CUC may approach the Legislature for.”
However, for now, he said the law has identified mandates that CUC must uphold.
