DUE to a delay in payroll on Friday, Imperial Pacific International’s in-house construction workers tasked to remove the tower cranes stopped their work, but security guards remained on duty.
There were 15 in-house construction workers led by certified tower crane operator Jesse Aquiningoc who were scheduled to dismantle tower crane No. 5 last week.
They were advised during a briefing on Monday that it would not be safe for them to climb the tower.
“They won’t be able to focus on their jobs if they are having a problem with their delayed salary, especially these days [when] gas prices have gone up,” one of the employees told Variety.
As for the 17 security guards, they are still reporting for work at the unfinished casino-hotel in Garapan, and the IPI warehouses in San Antonio, Lower Base and Tanapag.
One of the security guards, however, said they are not sure how long they can wait for their salaries.
Some of them live in “far villages” so they might not be able to report for work if they don’t have money for gas, the security guard added.
If no one will guard the casino-hotel, its many valuable fixtures and other items will be either be stolen or vandalized, the security guard added.
Also not receiving their salaries were IPI’s eight administration personnel at its Flame Tree office in Sadog Tasi.
In a memorandum on Friday, IPI informed the employees that the payroll for the Feb. 7 to 20 pay period would be delayed until further notice “due to the challenges of funding.”
IPI said it “continues to face financial hardships since the [March 2020] closure of Imperial Pacific Resort” amid the global Covid-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, Variety was told, there was “no update on payroll yet.”
Security deposit
According to a former employee, IPI was supposed to remit $800,000 to the U.S. Department of Labor as security deposit to ensure the payment of wages, but a consent judgment issued by the District Court for the NMI in March 2021 noted that IPI paid only $250,000.
The consent judgment stated that “at any one time, the amount held by the [U.S.] Department of Labor as security deposit shall not be less than three months of anticipated payroll obligations as determined by IPI and subject to verification by the [U.S.] Department of Labor.”
IPI is now trying to request the return of the $250,000 held by U.S. Labor, according to a former employee. The consent judgment requires that the funds be held for one year.
“Hopefully the funds may be released soon,” the former employee said.
The statues of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, are seen at the entrance of Imperial Pacific International casino in Garapan.
