Chamber opposes wage hike

Majority of the members of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce who attended yesterday’s regular monthly were against any move that would raise the minimum wage.

Only two were in favor of increasing the present $3.05 hourly wage, while two were indifferent on the issue.

Despite much prodding from acting Chamber President Gregg Kresge, only few of the 54 Chamber members who showed up in the meeting gave their views. The meeting was attended by the Special Industry Wage Review Committee.

Lyn Knight, president of Sunset Advertising, said an increase in minimum wage would result in job losses and force many businesses to close shop. She said the minimum wage on the U.S. mainland has no relevance on the CNMI’s remote island economy.

With businesses already reeling from the effects of Asia’s regional economic crisis, raising the minimum wage is “simply not right,” said Jess Lizama, owner of Victoria Hotel.

Joe Chiles, who is in the air condition business, said any plan to increase minimum wage must take into consideration the skill of the employee. For example, he said it would be unfair for a highly-skilled technician, a telephone operator, a waiter or even someone who has a degree in engineering to equally receive the present hourly wage rate.

Businesses claimed that most of them are already paying close to, if not equivalent to, the $5.15 federal minimum wage because of the subsidies they give for food, housing and transportation to their nonresident workers.

The Department of Commerce has mailed out a survey questionnaire to the business owners on the island last May but not even one-fourth of the forms were returned by employers.

Kresge urged Chamber members to submit the forms because the committee has to be specific when it submits a report and not simply make general statements on the economic situation.

Based on preliminary data the committee has gathered, employers who have expressed opposition to any increase in minimum wage have blamed the economic crisis as the main reason why they want to maintain the present level.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has expressed optimism that the committee tasked to determine the new minimum wage for local industries will come up with a “workable” recommendation.

Despite the absence of representatives from the federal government, the committee has convened and started gathering the views of both the employers and employees.