Previous Story
‘Help displaced local workers too’
|
Posted on Dec 15 2006
Senate President Joseph M. Mendiola reminded the Department of Labor yesterday not to neglect resident workers amid efforts to assist the contract employees displaced by recent business closures.
Mendiola said that residents deserve the same benefits and assistance as their foreign counterparts.
“With so much attention being devoted to the concerns of contract workers, how are resident workers’ concerns being addressed and what remedies are in place for our local residents who have lost their jobs due to the closures?” he asked in a letter to Labor Secretary Gil San Nicolas.
“Our priority should be with these resident workers and ensuring that they are reemployed or transferred internally within companies whose garment divisions have shut down,” he added.
Mendiola’s letter came on the heels of the closure of Concorde Garment Manufacturing, the largest garment company in the Commonwealth with 1,400 workers including 1,046 from China.
The Senate president also raised concern about the repatriation of the contract workers affected by the closure.
“My biggest concern lies with the possibility that many of these recently displaced garment workers will be issued temporary work authorizations only to remain in the CNMI indefinitely, as has often been the case with many contract workers in the past. This practice must stop if we are to wean ourselves from foreign labor and properly employ the local workforce,” he said.
Mendiola asked San Nicolas for information on the Labor Department’s plan of action for the repatriation of the workers. He also requested information on the department’s bonding policy in relation to nonresident workers, particularly information on their qualifications and financial health.
