The U.S. Department of the Interior is mandated to submit on or before May 10, 2010 its recommendations to the U.S. Congress regarding the fate of long-term guest workers in the CNMI.
Speaker Judith T. Won Pat, a Democrat, said if the recommendation is to give long-term CNMI guest workers access to employment on Guam, then it will help alleviate the territory’s labor shortage.
“We need more workers,” she said.
But she said there are still gray areas that should be addressed like the medical care for these guest workers.
“Who would be responsible for these individuals?” she asked.
Unemployment on Guam stands at 9.3 percent, according to its Department of Labor.
With the anticipated military buildup project on Guam, more skilled workers will be needed.
Sen. Judith P. Guthertz, another Democrat, said the CNMI’s case is complicated and needs thorough analysis.
Guthertz, the assistant majority leader and chairwoman of the Committee on the Guam Military Buildup and Homeland Security, said there is no doubt that long-term guest workers should be given consideration.
But she said the indigenous people of the CNMI should first be consulted about this issue.
She said the leaders of the CNMI and the people themselves should have a say on who can stay on their islands.
She also believes that it’s not right to deny long-term guest workers the opportunity to stay on the islands with their U.S. born children.
The CNMI, she noted, still needs guest workers for its tourism-based economy.
The CNMI currently hosts an estimated 16,000 documented foreign workers.
An official in Washington, D.C., who declined to be identified, said Guam’s position is similar to the CNMI’s.
“They are in favor of allowing the guest workers to remain in the CNMI, but without giving them improved status,” the official said.
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