FLASHBACK – November 18, 2011

Failed firm gets another lawsuit[/B]

Another lawsuit was filed against a company that lost the bidding for the Marpi landfill and Saipan prison projects, in an attempt to compel the firm to settle unpaid money. The civil action further exacerbated the already beleaguered financial condition of the Western Equipment, Inc., which was earlier reported to have already ceased operations. Consolidated Transportation Services Inc. is now suing the company for allegedly failing to pay for services. “On several occasions between March 31, 2001 to May 9, 2002, the defendant shipped various cargo through the plaintiff. The accumulated charges amounted to $3,928.79,” said Consolidated Transportation lawyer Matthew Gregory.

Terminated Northern Marianas College personnel Jack Angello said he has revived his unresolved grievances against an NMC official. Angello, former NMC vocational education and technical training director, in an interview, said he believes that his grievances, which he filed as early as 1999, had something to do with his termination on Sept. 24. Angello said a grievance committee hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 26. “I’m grateful that I’d finally have an opportunity to have my case resolved,” he said. Angello said he earlier agreed “to conditionally withdraw” his grievance upon the request of newly installed NMC president Kenneth Wright who, he said, had wanted to settle the matter outside the appeals committee.

Govt mulls salary increase for DPS, DPH[/B]

Speaking before the newly promoted police officers during a ceremony Friday, Babauta said the administration is closely working with the Office of the Personnel Management to study a salary restructuring procedure. Babauta said that included in the salary restructuring are the departments of Public Safety and Public Health, and the Customs and Immigration divisions. “We are working with the OPM to look into a salary restructuring method so that we can come up with a salary structure that is fitting for everyone,” the governor said.

With the failure of the Rota casino initiative to muster enough votes for ratification, Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona said the island’s search for other forms of investment continues, in a bid to spur the local economy. The Rota official is seriously seeking for investors willing to venture into the development of retirement homes, convention center or a cultural center in the First Senatorial District. “We can’t just bang on one industry and not explore the other. I was hoping that it [casino] would be a fast way of stirring up the Rota economy. Since it failed, the people don’t want to fight, then we got to start looking for other source of economic development, which we will be doing,” Manglona said yesterday.

Utility assistance program doles out over $22K[/B]

Over 100 power bills on Saipan have been cleared through the Saipan Mayor’s Office Utility Assistance Program, with total subsidies amounting to a little over $22,000. According to Mayor’s Office staff David Rosario, about 129 power bills from low-income households have been cleared, several of which included reconnection fees that amount to a total of $22,250. Numbers are from April 5, 2004 to yesterday. Rosario said interested low-income households can still avail of the assistance until all funds for the program are depleted. The program was awarded $30,000 for this year, with the first half arriving in April and the remaining received by the office in mid-July.

Over 50 former workers of a now defunct garment company complained yesterday about a Department of Labor order giving them 45 days to transfer to new employers, saying it provided no assurance that they will get their wage claims. Some of the N.E.T. Corp. workers also decried the Labor Hearing Office’s instruction that disallows them from being hired by employers other than the garment industry. Issued on Nov. 15, the order resolves the compliance agency case that arose from the April closure of N.E.T. Corp., which did business as Pacific Coast. In the order, hearing officer Herbert D. Soll said all the 364 known employees of N.E.T. Corp. are “entitled to other garment industry employment.”