OIA encouraged lawsuit vs. Saipan garment manufacturers

Second of a series

Not likely to give up its apparent sworn commitment to see the Northern Marianas economy hunched and knocked down, the United States interior department’s Office of Insular Affairs has conceived the idea of a class action suit since as early as December 1997.

In his December 19, 1997 letter to the agency’s CNMI field representative Jeffrey Schorr, OIA Public Affairs and Policy Director David North discussed the possibility of a class action suit against Saipan garment manufacturers on grounds of alleged violation of the employment discrimination and disabilities law.

Mr. North went even further in describing how the idea of a class action suit against Saipan apparel companies tickled the imagination of former OIA Director Allen P. Stayman and made him happy.

“I spoke with Al [Stayman] about the prospect of the firm suing one or more garment factories on these grounds — perhaps a class action suit — and he was delighted with the idea,” he said.

The class action suit was apparently conceived by the OIA to be able to release to the media a complaint by one garment factory worker that she was allegedly forced to have an abortion in order to keep her job.

A certain Amy Robertson, of the Denver firm Fox and Robertson, had raised the possibility of invoking Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which also applies to the CNMI, on the discrimination allegation of the garment worker.

“Once a suit is filed, the complaint can be released to the press. With all this in mind, I faxed Fox and Robertson a copy of the anonymous complaint filed by two Chinese workers,” said Mr. North.

A class action suit was finally filed against garment manufacturing companies on Saipan and their mainland United States buyers in early 1999. This was anticipated to spell disaster on the island’s economy and the Commonwealth government’s revenue-generating capabilities.

No less than Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio expressed concerns that the CNMI government may not be able to put heavy reliance on user fees collected from exportation of finished garment products to the mainland because of the anticipated decline in the volume of orders from U.S. buyers.

Mr. Tenorio said all indications are pointing to lower orders from mainland buyers, thus, lower revenue for the Commonwealth.

In fact, a number of garment manufacturing companies on Saipan have reported a dramatic decline in orders from their mainland US buyers since the class action suit were filed in three federal courts earlier last year.

Major buyers of Saipan-made apparel products include the Gap, Liz Claiborne, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren’s Polo line. The garment industry ships some $1 billion worth of apparel products to the United States every year.

FCC intervention

Mr. Schorr, in October 6, 1999, raised the possibility of asking the Federal Communications Commission to inquire for a probable violation of the anti-monopoly rules and regulations by Tan Holdings due to speculations that the company is buying out the cash-strapped Marianas Cable Vision.

Reporting to OIA Director Danny Aranza and several other OIA officials, Mr. Schorr said he was tipped by a “good friend” at MCV that Tan Holdings was planning to purchase the cable company from the United Micronesian Development Association, a Larry Hillblom corporation.

“I know the FCC regulations apply out here. I do not know to what extent. I have vague awareness of anti-monopoly rules and regulations which may have effect here. Can this quietly be checked out?” he added.

Mr. Schorr expressed alarm on the possible impacts of Tan Holdings’ apparent plan to buy out MCV on the smallness of the Northern Marianas. “The smallness of the community may have some bearing on what we would quickly perceive as negative monopolistic and additional influence in the Tan Holdings message.”

“We might be able to spike this quietly if there are FCC regulations which might be run afoul of. My personal opinion is this is a bad move for Willie Tan, as it would quickly underscore his control of the island,” he added.

He also accused some members of the CNMI Legislature of being under the control of Tan Holdings.
”
…but that doesn’t seem to be of concern in the ongoing effort to dominate the legislature, [Tan official candidates], the media, private holdings, across the board,” Mr. Schorr said.