Zachares, Soll off to U.S. for labor talks

Labor and Immigration Sec. Mark Zachares and Attorney General Herbert Soll flew yesterday afternoon to San Francisco to meet with federal labor officials following CNMI’s decision to sever its ties with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

They expect to discuss the status of their agreement involving labor cases on the islands, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They declined to provide other details of the forthcoming meeting.

The trip to San Francisco followed the Commonwealth’s unilateral move to end a memorandum of understanding forged with the Wage and Hour Division (WH) that allows them to refer guest workers with pending labor cases for temporary work authorization or TWA issued by the CNMI government.

DOLI had informed WH through the regional office in San Francisco about the termination ahead of its effective date on September 16, 2000, exactly 30 days from Aug. 17 when the notice was issued.

Mr. Zachares wrote a letter ending the agreement to WH District Director John M. Glyder. But he told the federal official that he’s open to another negotiation for a new partnership as part of his department’s commitment to a “working relationship” with the federal labor office.

In canceling the MOU, the DOLI chief had accused the division’s representatives on Saipan of abusing the agreement in a recent labor case in which more than 150 workers left their employer.

Mr. Zachares expressed disappointment that the situation had become untenable after he had attempted to resolve the problems early on due to apparent failure by WH Saipan to closely follow through the case.

Signed during the previous administration between the CNMI and the federal labor office, the MOU arbitrarily grants the latter control over labor cases here brought by aggrieved employees against their employers.

It permits the WH to refer guest workers to DOLI for the issuance of TWA which is required by the island government in order for them to continue working in other companies while their cases are being heard.

In the recent case, the federal labor office issued more than 150 requests for memorandum from one employer, which Mr. Zachares maintained has led to a host of problems for the CNMI government although it was not directly involved.

He cited such issues as loss of confidence by nonresident workers in DOLI to deal with their case and illegal employment as well precedence the case has set in encouraging other workers to leave their current employers.

Due to the termination, DOLI has restricted the number of requests for referral to three per investigation since Aug. 17 until the effective date to prevent what he called possible exploitation by the WH staff on Saipan of the MOU during the remaining days.