Minimum wage issue revived

Backed by a total of 108 U.S. lawmakers, two bills that aim to increase the minimum wage in the CNMI were recently re-introduced in the U.S. Congress.

The first proposal, S. 2370, was introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy at the Senate on April 29, with the support of 26 others, including Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka and leading Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

The following day, an exactly identical bill, H.B. 4256, was introduced by long-time CNMI critic, Rep. George Miller, at the House of Representatives.

Titled “Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2004,” S.2370 passed on second reading and has been placed on the Senate calendar. It aims to amend the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act to increase the federal minimum wage to $5.85 an hour. After a year, this will be further increased to $6.45 an hour and then $7 an hour by the second year.

The bill’s provision that directly affects the CNMI is Section 3, which seeks to increase the minimum wage from $3.05 an hour to $3.55 an hour, to be made effective two months after the bill becomes law. It will then be further increased by 50 cents every six months until the minimum wage in the Commonwealth attains the federal level.

The bill has not been referred to a Senate committee.

In the U.S House of representatives, an identical bill—with exactly the same incremental increases in the federal and CNMI minimum wages—was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce on April 30. On May 14, the measure was referred to the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protection.

When reached for comments, Gov. Juan N. Babauta said he was not aware about the bills’ introduction. He declined to give comments except to say that he will get in touch with Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio “to work together in addressing this concern.”

Saipan Garment Manufacturing Association executive director Richard Pierce said any wage increase at this time would certainly not be in the best interest of the CNMI.

“It will harm the businesses. It will hurt the industry directly and the CNMI economy as a whole. To unilaterally introduce that in the U.S. without talking about that here is not a good idea. I don’t think they have done a study here,” he said.

He said such move would also be “a recipe for disaster for the local autonomy.”

“They [federal officials] just think that the problems out here will be fixed if they raise the minimum wage. They think it’s the solution,” he said.

He said that, if such a measure was introduced 10 years ago, it could have gotten a support from the local industry.

He said the measure’ introduction at this time seems to be politically motivated.

The Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments from Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan but messages left with his cell phone were not returned.

Besides Akaka and Kerry, the 24 other sponsors of the Senate bill are Sens. John Edwards, Joseph Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, and Thomas A. Daschle.

The House bill, on the other hand, is co-sponsored by 82 others, including Reps. Dennis Kucinich, Neil Abercrombie, Richard Gephardt, and Luis V. Gutierrez.

In 2002, Tenorio expressed the belief that the U.S. Congress would place the federal minimum wage legislation for the CNMI on its lower priority list, which he said was “good news” for the Commonwealth.