MILE CNMI finds consensus with Dems on minimum wage hike

Youth members of voter awareness-group MILE CNMI met with Edward Deleon Guerrero and Daniel Quitigua, as well as other Democratic Party candidates in this year’s elections, as part of their efforts to promote voter registration among their fellow youth as well as to learn more about the candidates and Commonwealth issues in general.

One issue the two groups found consensus on was minimum wage, as general sentiment among the participants favored increasing the minimum wage, currently set at $5.55 an hour; it will go up by 50 cents to $6.05 an hour this September.

Youth members of voter awareness-group MILE CNMI pose with Democratic Party candidates Edward Deleon Guerrero and Daniel Quitigua after their meeting. (Dennis B. Chan)

Quitugua said he did not support the previous suspensions—in 2013 and in 2015—of the yearly increase in the CNMI’s minimum wage.

He said if elected, he and Deleon Guerrero will push for better wages for the people in the Commonwealth.

“The cost of living exceeds far more than wage earned…So the ability to pay our bills are still coming short, even you are [making minimum wage],” said Quitigua.

In an informal poll of MILE CNMI members after the meeting, Saipan Tribune learned that the members present favored an increase.

The issue was a part of a larger discussion led by the two candidates on an issue that primary concerned the group: the economy.

Speaking on reversing the “imbalances” they see in the Commonwealth, Guerrero and Quitigua talked about raising the minimum wage, reversing the imbalance of foreign workers employed versus U.S. workers employed, and creating internal business activity for more resources to move within the CNMI.

Deleon Guerrero argued for an “equal playing ground” in terms of taxes paid by local and foreign businesses, saying that small local businesses are “almost dying to pay taxes.”

“Why are we…exempting [foreign investors] from paying tax when they are the ones who can afford to pay taxes?” he asked.

Deleon Guerrero described a discrepancy between what he believes is actually made in terms of revenue and how much of that actually goes to help the CNMI’s people.

“You go to Garapan, and you go to the hotels and you see a lot of tourists. Sometimes you have to make reservation to go to brunch, but you go to Kagman, you go to the villages and look around. …There are people without power, without water and you see how dilapidated some of the places they are staying,” Deleon Guerrero said.

One economic plan they laid out to the young voters was to “industrialize and culturalize” Marpi by tolling tourists that visit the area, with tourists being ferried via trolley to upgraded and new tourist sites such as a cultural center.

Deleon Guerrero believes the economy can be fixed internally through the people and businesses of the Commonwealth “without all these things that are happening right now.”

He cited the new casino industry, one that the candidates believe has been set up as a predetermined monopoly as they lamented the lack of “competition” provided under the current casino license agreement and spoke of the other problems the casino industry will bring.

“There’s going to be a lot more penalties and issues and money we are going to spend just to ensure the casino is run properly on Saipan,” Deleon Guerrero said. “We need to have compliance people, we need to have lawyers to watch them. …Who’s gonna pay for that? Us.”

MILE CNMI is currently working to meet with independent candidates Juan Babuata and Juan Torres as they conclude their meetings with this year’s gubernatorial candidates.

They previously met with independent bets Heinz Hofschneider and Sen. Ray Yumul, as well the GOP’s Gov. Eloy Inos and his running mate, Sen. Ralph Torres, in the last two weeks.