Deleon Guerrero, Ind.-Saipan, said he will meet with the officials of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor on Thursday to discuss the transfer to the private sector of government workers who will lose their jobs once the downsizing of government begins this year.
He said he wants to make sure that there are over 6,500 private sector jobs for locals as claimed by Labor.
“I’d like to see more U.S. citizens employed in the private sector by the end of this year,” Deleon Guerrero said.
Thousands of jobs are still held by guest workers while U.S. citizens are unemployed or about to lose their jobs, he added.
Deleon Guerrero said he will introduce a bill that will give tax breaks to companies whose work force is 80 percent U.S. citizens.
He said he understands it is not easy for elected officials to let go of government employees “because they need the votes.”
But retaining the current size of the government, he added, is no longer possible due to the worsening economy.
As elected officials, Deleon Guerrero said, “our job now is to find away to transition our people from government jobs to private sector employment.”
He also looks at the possibility of speeding up the privatization of some government entities like the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and the Commonwealth Health Center. Once privatized, these government services can somehow cushion the impact of the looming job cuts in the government, he said.
Iguel, Covenant-Saipan, said a desk audit of the entire government should be conducted now to identify the employees no longer needed.
He said it is also important to help the affected employees find jobs in the private sector.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, in his state of the commonwealth report to the Legislature, said more U.S. citizens working in the private sector will be one of his “highest priorities” this year.
“Previously, we lacked the date and the tools to achieve this objective. However, with the passage of Public Law 17-1, we now have both,” he added.
P.L. 17-1 requires that all employers must use the job vacancy announcement to ensure that qualified U.S. citizens are considered for the position before it is filled by a foreign worker.
With the job availability forecast in place, Fitial said the local Labor Department can now know exactly what jobs will become available over the next 12 months.
It is the responsibility of Labor to place U.S. citizens in jobs that become available when the contracts of foreign workers end, he added.
This program, he said, deserves a technical assistance grant from the federal government.
He noted that U.S.P.L. 110-229, which federalized local immigration, specifically addressed the CNMI’s need to recruit, train and hire more U.S. citizens in the local private sector.
The governor said the CNMI government will “be reduced accordingly.”
