No conflict seen in doing 2 separate wage surveys

There are no foreseen conflicts arising from having two prevailing wage surveys that will be done separately by the CNMI government and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce—unless the results are markedly different from the other.

But Chamber president Douglas Brennan said they don’t expect results to be different because they will be surveying basically the same job classifications.

“At the end of the day, it will be a great double check if the CNMI survey and the Chamber survey come up within pennies of each other. Everybody’s going to be happier,” Brennan told Saipan Tribune.

Brennan was among those who attended yesterday’s meeting of the governor’s Strategic Economic Development Council.

The Chamber expects to spend some $20,000 for the whole project, while the Fitial administration has applied for a $40,701.99 grant with the U.S. Department of Labor for its survey. The government said it will go on with the survey even if U.S. Labor denies its application.

Press secretary Angel Demapan, who was also at the closed-door SEDC meeting, said what the Fitial administration would like to emphasize is that the government never intended to oppose the Chamber’s prevailing wage survey.

“What the governor said was, ‘you conduct yours, we conduct ours,’” he said.

A prevailing wage survey, among other things, is needed by CNMI employers to support their applications for their foreign employees’ U.S. work visas.

Demapan and Brennan said existing laws prohibit the Department of Commerce’s Central Statistics Division from sharing data with other entities or agencies when doing surveys.

“They cannot share information because of privacy issues and confidentiality issues,” Demapan said.

This makes it impossible to combine the government and Chamber surveys.

“When the government does a survey, CSD of Commerce, as the statutorily created agency in the government that is in charge of conducting surveys and census…is barred by the statute to disclose information that they obtain,” he added.

But Demapan said the results will be made public.

“The way it sounds today, we’ll pretty much do the same surveys,” he said.

Brennan, who is also general manager of Microl Corp., also noted the regulations governing confidentiality.

“So basically we all agreed that we’re working toward the same goal. There just doesn’t seem to be problem with that. Information will be shared where possible. So we’re very happy with that,” he said.

The Chamber, the largest business organization in the CNMI with some 150 members, will contract the Guam Employers Council, which specializes in extensive services in wage and salary management and prevailing wage surveys. That contract could cost anywhere between $10,000 and $15,000, but total cost of the project is estimated at $20,000.

At the SEDC meeting, Brennan also asked the SEDC and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to use a provision of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act whereby the CNMI governor can ask the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create a new classification of a CNMI-only nonimmigrant visa for retirees.

Chamber executive director Richard Pierce said that similar to the previously explored CNMI “Silver Market,” DHS can issue this special visa only in the CNMI and Guam.

Pierce also asked SEDC to consider insertion of language into current legislation before the U.S. Congress that would allow the CNMI to be a part of a billion-dollar-a-year Trade Adjustment Assistance program.

He said TAP provides assistance to workers who have been displaced by global trade. This concession is offered as a way to assist those who may be hurt as a result of free trade agreements currently before Congress.

“The governor and SEDC approved of both these SCC recommendations and will allow the Chamber to offer suggested language on TAP, and draft letters for the governor’s consideration concerning USCIS CNMI-only retirement visas,” Pierce said.

Demapan said the SEDC, which meets monthly, usually hears from the Marianas Visitors Authority, for example, about the latest tourism arrivals or the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands about their concerns.