Governor OKs monetary awards for workers

A bill that will provide up to $3,000 in unpaid compensation and repatriation cost for nonresidents awaiting awarded monetary damages was signed into law by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio in another attempt to soothe angry guest workers seeking back wages and derail a federal takeover of local immigration and labor.

The measure, hastily approved by the Legislature and the governor Friday, was put into motion upon recommendation of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Resources Committee, during his visit last week.

A group of alien workers, mostly Chinese, Bangladeshis and Filipinos, told Young and members of the committee in a meeting that they have yet to collect unpaid back wages provided for in administrative awards.

Most of these nonresident workers were abandoned by their employers, and many refused to leave the islands until they receive payment for monetary damages even if they do not have the means to support themselves.

Public Law 11-66 authorizes the Department of Labor and Immigration to expend money from the Deportation Fund to pay out back wages of foreign workers equivalent to three months of their salary and a one-way plane ticket to their country of origin.

The assistance will cover unemployed nonresident workers who are holding administrative awards for unpaid back wages and other related damages.

“It is a cooperative effort of the Administration and the Legislature to respond to a problem that CNMI needs to address,” Tenorio said in a letter to the Legislature after signing the administration-sponsored bill on the eve of his trip to Washington. “The CNMI has committed itself to resolve its labor and immigration issues and this is a further step in the right direction.”

The law empowers the local government to collect awarded monetary damages from employers on behalf of foreign workers who will qualify for the assistance. Money recovered will be used to reimburse the government for amounts paid to workers.

It also grants reprogramming authority to the governor to tap other sources of funds to replenish the Deportation Fund, an account established for the repatriation of illegal workers.

Local leaders are hoping the legislation would help defer Washington’s takeover of local minimum wage and immigration policies, which federal officials say are inadequate to address growing labor problems, curb entry of foreign workers and raise local wages to mainland standards.

Aside from his schedule to attend the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association and the Pacific Basin Development Council, the governor, along with his key advisers, is in Washington D.C. to woo key members of the US not to support a new proposal the White House is drafting to extend US immigration and minimum wage laws to the commonwealth.