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Torres: We are working on workforce issues
Despite negative reports about the CNMI workforce issues, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres assured that his administration and CNMI government is doing its best to address those labor issues.
The national media picked up on the U.S. Department of Labor’s settlement with four Chinese companies, but the CNMI government is exerting more effort to prevent a repeat of that fiasco, Torres said.
“What we are doing now is our Department of Labor here has access to [documentation of the] workforce [that are here] now to make sure their documents are proper,” he said. “We are coming out with a communication making sure that when [DOL] comes to their business, the documentation of workers are readily available.”
The increased effort seeks to prevent a repeat of what had happened in the case of MCC International, Gold Mantis Construction Decoration, Beilida Engineering, and Sino Great Wall International when workers were brought in as tourists.
The USDOL entered into a settlement agreement with the four companies last week to pay about $14 million to over 2,400 workers who have yet to receive back pay.
Torres is sure that the negative reports arising from the settlement has had an effect. “However, we must remain cognizant that as much as we have progress, this is a setback that we still need to address. We don’t have a perfect government and we don’t have a perfect…economy. We are striving and we are doing well, and issues like this need to be addressed along the way,” he said. “I don’t think it should stop our progress.”
