Previous Story
Registry of US workers applying for advertised jobs sought
|
Posted on Nov 19 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
The House adopted Rep. Tony Sablan’s (R-Saipan) resolution seeking a registry of U.S. workers who applied for jobs advertised by CNMI employers.
Sablan’s House Resolution 17-75 asks Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to order the CNMI Department of Labor to set up the registration system.
“With this registry, the local and federal government will have a readily available database that they can use to verify reports of U.S. citizens being denied fair opportunity to be employed,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Sablan said his office has yet to get confirmation whether a copy of the resolution has been officially transmitted to the governor.
The same resolution asks the governor and Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) to request U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Attorney’s Office “to look into reports of possible violations of U.S. Public Law 110-229 by CNMI employers,” particularly employers inflating the job qualifications advertised thus making it harder for U.S. workers to be employed in positions filled by foreign workers.
Delegate Sablan said he has already brought this matter to the attention of USCIS, while Fitial said he will communicate the same to the federal agency.
Rep. Tony Sablan, a former immigration director, said he doesn’t believe that setting up such registry will incur additional costs.
“Even if it does result in additional costs to Labor, we owe it to our citizen applicants to get employment,” he said.
Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the Committee on Foreign and Federal Relations, separately said he has asked CNMI Labor for a listing of private sector job vacancies and the types of vacancies.
Deleon Guerrero said he’s also asking for a listing of U.S. workers looking for jobs.
But because Sablan’s resolution seeking such a registry has just been adopted, it may take time for Labor to come up with such a registry unless it already has an existing list.
