WE couldn’t agree more with the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association. The CNMI government should not get a “free ride from its public safety responsibilities.” This was SGMA’s reaction to Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider’s comment regarding the garment industry’s failure to “pay for something as inexpensive as a pedestrian light in front of their [factories] to prevent their [workers] from being run down.”
It is the CNMI government that should put up traffic lights. However, this government is almost broke and the economy is still stagnant despite SGMA’s claim that the industry “provides jobs, revenue and standard of living that would not be available without its being here.” (Unless of course SGMA was referring to its executives’ jobs, revenues and standard of living, which is another story.)
Nevertheless, a declining revenue base will not excuse the government’s failure to own up to its responsibilities to the public. It must find the money to prevent the unfortunate road accidents involving garment workers. According to the federal government, these hardworking women have signed employment contracts in China requiring them not to get pregnant and not to join any religious organization or a labor union while they are in the CNMI. The least that we could do is to allow them to cross any street without fear of bouncing off an SUV’s bumper. To paraphrase a Wisconsin senator SGMA probably admires, even a single auto-ped accident is still one too many.
SGMA is right. The CNMI government has to do something about these unfortunate incidents. Where should it get the money? Why, from the garment industry, of course. The Legislature should impose a one-time tax on factories, and this additional revenue should be used to purchase the traffic lights that will be installed near the factories AND schools. Lawmakers should also support the speaker’s proposal to raise the user fee. And while they’re at it, they should also review the land lease agreement the government signed with those three factories located on public land.
SGMA, in any case, says it believes in free enterprise. Free enterprise does not include special favors, exceptions and certainly not protection. Moreover, free enterprise does not prevent the government from doing the right thing, which in this case means ensuring public safety by getting the revenue to put up traffic lights.
Go for it Heinz.
