Rota Hotel workers say they’re owed $57K in back wages

Rota Hotel workers said yesterday their employer owes them a total of $57,000 in back wages, and belied claims by the hotel management that 10 of 13 employees resigned.

The workers are now also worried that if Rota Hotel does not reopen, they will be left without an employer at a time when a final rule on foreign workers requires employment by Nov. 27, 2011 or they could face deportation.

“We did not resign from the company. We are still employees and we are still owed over $57,000 by Rota Hotel. We want to be paid and we want to continue working with the company once they reopen. We have been patient about this, but we also have families to feed,” said Arthur Alpino, who has been an accountant for Rota Hotel for 12 years.

Alpino, in a phone interview yesterday, said the workers’ meeting with Rota Mayor Melchor Mendiola in August did not have any mention about workers resigning but was only about the workers’ request to be paid their salaries.

Rota Hotel, which also owns and operates Rota Treasure Island Corp., temporarily closed in April after expected casino players and tourists cancelled their flights in the wake of the March 11 Japan quake and tsunami. The casino has not reopened since.

The hotel, however, reopened for some 10 days in August because of a charter flight that came in. But Alpino said only three of the 13 employees were secretly called in to work during those days.

Isagani Camacho, 62, who has been with Rota Hotel for nine years as a maintenance worker for electrical, refrigeration, air-conditioning, and other areas of operation, said he is owed some $5,000 in back wages.

He said when Rota Hotel temporarily closed, he tried to look for other jobs but hasn’t had any luck.

Camacho said if he couldn’t find a new employer to petition a CW status for him, he’s prepared to go home—but only if he’s paid the $5,000 he worked for.

He said it would be unfair if Rota Hotel hires new employees when it reopens, without first paying its debt to its employees who served the hotel for years.

“They promised us that even when we’re back in the Philippines, we will be paid. Now that we’re still here, they couldn’t pay us. How much more when we’re no longer here?” Camacho said.

Alpino believes that Rota Hotel may be washing its hands of responsibilities over its own employees, now that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security released the final rule on foreign workers.

He said the original amount owed to 13 workers was $62,000 but the hotel owner paid them $5,000 last month.

Alpino said if Rota Hotel plans to reopen and hire workers, the management should pay the back wages of its current employees first.

In August, the workers staged a silent protest with placards demanding payment of back wages. They said the mayor learned about their plight.

Saipan Tribune attempted several times to contact the management of Rota Hotel to ask for comment on Alpino and company’s allegations, with no success.

Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota), chairman of the Rota Legislative Delegation, said yesterday that the delegation sympathizes with the unpaid workers.

“We hope that the company also thinks about the welfare of the employees who need their salaries to feed their families,” he said.

Ayuyu said this will be discussed again during an economic meeting on Rota on Saturday at 9am.

He said the economic meeting will be held at the Rota mayor’s office, and every stakeholder is invited, including the owners and operators of hotels on Rota, the airline firms serving Rota, tourism partners, and other interested entities.

“We hope everyone with a stake in Rota’s tourism industry will be there,” Ayuyu said.