Gradual phaseout of unskilled workers sought

President Bill Clinton’s special representative to the 902 talks, Edward B. Cohen, has said a new proposal on federal takeover of local immigration will seek to eliminate garment workers and unskilled workers in the Northern Marianas.

Cohen, however, explained under a legislation the Clinton administration will submit to the US Congress will introduce provisions for a gradual reduction of such workers.

He said the “proposal does provide for a gradual phase-out of such workers over ten years, and for the continuing extension of unskilled workers under certain circumstance.”

“We expect garment factories…to gradually phase down their non-resident personnel, if necessary, as the phase down under the new law progresses,” Cohen wrote to Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan recently.

Cohen’s statements were part of his response to a series of questions raised by local officials at the end of the Covenant Section 702 talks last month after the two sides failed to bridge differences in addressing problems on immigration and labor.

With the gradual departure of foreign workers in the garment industry, Washington expects the commonwealth to phase in local residents, including immigrants, and workers from the Freely Associated States in order to meet the personnel needs of the sector, he said.

Garment manufacturers in the commonwealth employ approximately 15,000 guest workers, mostly impoverished Asians, whose growing numbers have worried federal officials because of a host of problems spawned by their presence.

The battle for control over labor and immigration policies have been a wedge in the CNMI-US relations due to opposing positions on how to handle problems stemming from the islands’ heavy reliance on non-resident workers. The federal government say local officials are incapable of addressing labor complaints and curb unhampered entry of guest workers, but commonwealth leaders argue a takeover is unnecessary because reforms are underway.

While the proposal assures no abrupt change in the number of guest workers in CNMI, it faces strong opposition from local leaders especially now that the island economy is in distress.

The sharp downturn in its tourism-based economy has made the garment industry the key provider of sources of revenues for the cash-strapped government.

Since 1994 there has been a steady climb in revenues garment manufactures shovel in to the local coffers. In Fiscal 1998 direct garment taxes represented a record 23.5 percent of the total operational budget of the government.

But a $1 billion lawsuit recently filed against apparel makers and US buyers has slowed down orders from the mainland that is expected to shed off 25 percent of the sector’s contributions to the economy.

According to Cohen, the new proposal will also provide for additional reviews of the need for adjustments in the rate of phase-out of foreign workers, as well as continued infrastructure financing and assistance in stimulating private sector investment.