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Business leaders cry foul on takeover bill
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Posted on Mar 21 2001
Saipan Chamber of Commerce members yesterday took turns castigating US lawmakers who revived efforts to federalize local immigration and labor systems.
This came a day after businessmen demonstrated their disgust over the CNMI Senate’s dawdling on the repeal of the three-year limit law.
“Nothing is going to stop them, (Frank) Murkoswski and (Daniel) Akaka would care less what we do here. They already put their horse blinds and decided we are going to destroy the CNMI,” Chamber President Anthony Pellegrino said.
For his part, Chamber Vice President Richard Pierce said, “In my opinion their is no US Senators or Congressmen who would respect the decision of CNMI lawmakers to what is in the best interest of those they serve.”
Mr. Akaka, who hails from Hawaii, is being pressured by the strong union lobbyists of his home state, according to Mr. Pellegrino. On Murkowski, the chamber president could only shake his head in bewilderment about the agenda of the Alaska lawmaker.
Mr. Pellegrino also brought to light the US government’s own nonresident worker recruitment program. He said tens of thousands of aliens are set to fill the mainland’s requirements in the information technology sector.
Last March 14, Senators Murkowski and Akaka introduced to the US Senate S. 507, a measure which seeks to extend the implementation of the federal minimum wage and immigration laws to the CNMI.
Although, the bill was tossed back to the Senate Committee on Energy and Resources for further review, CNMI lobbyists said that the two lawmakers could still muster enough votes to have the law passed.
“They’re out to destroy us even though there is no provocation. I don’t think anything we do now would stop those gentlemen in Washington,” Mr. Pellegrino lamented.
The chamber president also noted that since 1999, the CNMI have done tremendous strides in controlling labor problems.
“We’ve been very fair. We’ve capped the entry of new guest workers. We’ve done everything humanly possible to resolve most of our labor complaint problems,” he further added.
