Prevailing wage survey, freight service

Guam Employers Council executive director Andy Andrus will speak on his contract to conduct a comprehensive survey of prevailing wages and benefits in the CNMI, while Pelley Enterprises president Tony Pellegrino will talk about his cargo airline during the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s monthly general membership meeting tomorrow.

The Wednesday luncheon will be held at the Saipan Grand Hotel in Susupe starting at 11:30am.

During the Chamber meeting, Pellegrino will present an overview of his project to introduce freight cargo service between Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam through a new cargo carrier airline, Cargo Air Bridge.

The Chamber, the largest business organization in the CNMI with some 150 members, is expected to spend some $20,000 for the prevailing wage survey, including its contract with the Guam Employers Council to do the actual survey.

The Guam Employers Council and its current executive director have been conducting surveys of wages and benefits in the Western Pacific for some 25 years.

The Chamber’s survey is separate from the Fitial administration’s own planned prevailing wage survey. The Fitial administration said it will go on with the survey even if U.S. Labor denies its application for a $40,701.99 grant for the survey.

Immediately after the Chamber’s general membership meeting, which ends at 1pm, the Chamber will host a free presentation at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center, also in Susupe, at 1:30pm, where Andrus will provide more information and explanations regarding the prevailing wage survey.

Chamber members will meet with representatives of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Society for Human Resources Management, the Marianas Visitors Authority, and other employers and human resources managers to learn how the survey will be conducted.

The purpose of the survey is to measure current base rates of pay and benefits currently in effect among private and public employers in the CNMI for a very broad range of jobs.

In a statement yesterday, the Chamber said the Standard Occupation Classification published by the U.S. Department of Labor is being used as the standard for the job codes, titles and descriptions, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Labor.

All organizations and companies that fully participate in the survey will receive copies of the results.

There is no charge for participation and the data gathered is 100 percent confidential as per contractual agreement. The survey will be copyrighted, said the Chamber.

A detailed, graphic explanation of the instructions, data entry forms and procedures for submitting data will be provided in the presentation.

“In the effort to make the results appropriate for prevailing wage determinations, and more specifically for temporary immigrant labor applications with USCIS, standards prescribed by the US DOL for such procedures are being addressed. Accordingly, the rates of pay and benefits data for persons holding H-1, H-1B and H-2B visas are to be excluded,” the Chamber said.