‘CNRA is not going to work’

In the face of a looming crisis brought about by the capping of CW-1 permits, Society for Human Resource Management-NMI chapter immediate past president Frank Gibson called for an overhaul of the CNMI-only transitional worker program.

Speaking before yesterday’s SHRM monthly membership meeting at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, Gibson said that something has to be done and reiterated that the law, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 or Public Law 110-229, which mandates the annual reduction of CW workers to zero in 2019, is not going to work.

“We worried about 2019, well we have to worry about it right now,” Gibson said, “The law, as we all know, is not going to work.”

“Zero in 2019 means we’re going to lose 13,000 people in our workforce and we don’t have 13,000 people to replace them with,” he added, “Someone has to see the common sense and do the changes.”

Yesterday’s SHRM meeting was attended by human resource personnel, managers, and other business stakeholders in the CNMI—all gravely concerned how the current CW-1 crisis will disrupt their operations and how it will negatively effect the local economy.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Palacios, who attended the meeting, shared the results of their survey to show how many employees might be affected by the CW cap.

Palacios said that out of their more than 165 members, 30 have responded so far and they have found 117 employees that are up for renewal between May 5 to Sept. 30. A total of 441 employees are up for renewal between Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands chair Gloria Cavanagh also shared the results of their survey and said that so far they have found 87 that are up for renewal between May 5 to Sept. 30 and 526 employees up for renewal between Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

These surveys are not complete yet according to both organizations. The number is expected to grow as the majority of the CWs got their new status approved only last December.

During the discussion headed by Gibson, questions and suggestions were thrown out clarifying the 10-day provision as well as the 240-day grace period among others.

“Why only 10 days? Because that’s what USCIS said and even if they find a new employer, the employer cannot process the petition because the cap was reached,” Gibson said.

“They’re going to say we’re following the law, we’re following the regulation, and it doesn’t matter to them if the person has a lease or a new car they have to get rid of, if they have kids in school, if they have been here in 20 years, that doesn’t matter. That’s why the governor and the congressman have to be involved because those things do matter,” he added.

There were also clarifications on how the CW status is being counted and how are the transferees or those who have two employees count.

Gibson offered a suggestion on how the workers can still retain their lawful presence in the CNMI that doesn’t involve changing the law.

“As long as the petitions are pending, and with the USCIS, the employee has a lawful status. If it’s in lawful status, it has 240 days to work, then that takes us up to Oct. 1,” Gibson said.

“It doesn’t break any laws, it doesn’t require the law to change, and it doesn’t violate their regulation. It just requires that they be slow. We’ve all experienced that anyway,” he added.

‘What is the government doing?’

One member of the audience noted that there were no representatives from the Office of Governor, the Legislature, and Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan’s (Ind-MP) office in the meeting.

Only CNMI Department of Labor Secretary Edith DeLeon Guerrero came to the meeting to clarify some of the news and information that got out regarding CWs.

“This issue is very important, and I’m surprised that there is no representative from the governor, from the Legislature or from congressman Kilili,” the member said.

According to Gibson, they were “told that their chief of staff will be here but they are not.”

“What is the governor doing?” another audience asked.

“We hope that they will be doing something quickly,” Gibson said.

SHRM president Josephine Mesta sought more comments or concerns from the businesses on the matter so that they can be represented and shared with the government officials.

SHRM is seeking to have a meeting with Sablan after Memorial Day.

“They can all sit there and talk about the legal side and the political side, but really on a day-to-day basis, we are the ones who get affected. We need to have our voices heard,” Mesta said.