The unpaid wages have accumulated to $75,000 and each worker has receivables ranging from $2,000 to $7,000, Variety was told.
The source said the Rota casino also failed to pay $40,000 in taxes to the municipal government.
The hotel management refused to issue any statement.
Injustice
Yesterday, Rota lawmakers said there’s a need to immediately look into the plight of the casino workers.
The Rota legislative delegation chairman, Independent Sen. Juan M. Ayuyu, said: “I’m not aware of that but if that is true then something is wrong,” adding that it will affect the island’s fledgling casino industry.
Sen. Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota, said she had not heard about the nonpayment of salaries at the Rota casino.
But she said she will confer with the other members of the Rota legislative delegation and look into the issue.
Rota Mayor Melchor A. Mendiola was not available for comment yesterday.
Rota casino and gaming commission chairwoman Laura Manglona didn’t return Variety’s call.
Rep. Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota, said the problem should be resolved immediately because “it is an injustice to those employees already providing services but are not being paid.”
Nonresident nurses and other medical personnel on Rota have yet to get their salaries, too, because of the CNMI government’s failure to pay the manpower agency through which the employees are hired.
Labor dispute
The source said local workers of the casino have filed a labor complaint.
Those workers, the source said, were given $250 in monthly installment payments according to the stipulation of Labor and the hotel management.
Santos said she heard about the labor complaint from at least 10 casino workers.
The source said two other workers were supposed to file their labor complaints yesterday but the Labor office was closed. Yesterday was Presidents Day, a holiday in the CNMI and the rest of the nation.
A Rota Labor official, who declined to be identified, said “there’s no serious problem” about the complaints because they have already been rectified.
But the source said at least one local worker, a security guard, has yet to be paid his salary amounting to $1,000. This worker’s labor complaint remains pending, the source added.
The Rota casino had a “soft” opening on Oct. 10, 2010. Its president, Masahito Watanabe, hosted a test run on Aug 3 and 4, 2010.
When it opened, the casino had at least 70 workers.
The source said some of these workers have already resigned, others stopped reporting for work, while some have filed labor complaints.
In December, the source said Watanabe left Rota supposedly to get casino players abroad but has yet to return to the island.
The source said the operation of the casino was temporarily stopped for a total of six days last September.
