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Tudela recommends $1K fee for garment workers
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Posted on Nov 02 2006
Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela wants garment companies to pay more for employing nonresident workers who are excluded from the minimum wage hike plan that is pending in the Legislature.
House Bill 15-166, authored by Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero, seeks to gradually raise the minimum wage to $5.25 per hour with the exception of sewers or cutters employed in the garment industry.
Tudela said that, in lieu of an increase in wage rates, the fee for employing a nonresident sewer or cutter should be raised to $1,000 for a one-year contract and $250 for a 90-day temporary work authorization.
“The purpose of the $1,000 fee is to compensate the government for a loss in tax revenue it would have received if the employer had paid the new raised minimum wage to the sewers and cutters. This amount will compensate for the privilege granted to the garment industry of allowing these exemptions and at the same time help offset the tax loss to the government from the low salaries of the cutters and sewers,” he said.
The Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association has expressed its opposition to the bill.
Richard W. Pierce, attorney for the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association, on Tuesday reiterated SGMA’s proposal that the Commonwealth adopt a tiered wage system that is similar to the system American Samoa has in place.
Pierce also urged the House, before considering any wage-related measure, should conduct an economic study—“as opposed to shooting from the hip because the U.S. government wants it.”
