Inos renews call for CW extension

Gov. Eloy S. Inos renewed yesterday his call for U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to extend the Commonwealth-only worker program beyond Dec. 31, 2014, citing plans now underway to build 2,600 new hotel rooms, the first major projects initiated on the islands “in over a decade” that the governor hopes would “signal a turning point” for the local economy. Perez has a July 4 deadline to decide on the issue.

Inos hopes that the CNMI “can count on” Perez’s “immediate support.”

“Time is of the essence and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help facilitate the decision-making and ensure that the CW program is extended at the earliest time possible,” Inos said in his May 13 letter to Perez, whom he met earlier this year at a White House dinner.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule to allow CW workers to continue working for up to 240 days or eight months while their CW permit renewal applications are being processed was published in the Federal Register on Monday.

The proposed rule is available at www.regulations.gov.

The deadline for submitting written comments to the proposed rule is July 11, 2014.

Inos, in a two-page letter to Perez, acknowledges that the CW program extension issue is a “somewhat contentious” one.

“I nonetheless urge you to continue the necessary efforts to prolong the existence of this program, which is so critically important to our economy. The bottom line is that that CNMI’s economy is unprepared at this time to withstand a mass exodus of alien workers,” he told Perez.

If the CW program is not extended, some 10,000 foreign workers will be forced to go home en masse. The CNMI still does not have enough U.S. worker pool to fill the void that would be left if there’s going to be a mass exodus after 2014.

“The potential adverse effects of zeroing-out the Commonwealth’s nonresident worker program at the end of this year will devastate immediate and future economic and business growth in the CNMI,” Inos said.

He pointed out that such a result would be in “clear violation” of the Congressional Intent of Section 701 (a) (1) (A) of U.S. Public Law 110-229, which calls for the “orderly phasing-out of the nonresident contract worker program of the Commonwealth.”

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) has repeatedly called on Perez to grant a five-year extension of the CW program. Later, Sablan’s plea was for Perez to make his decision public, ahead of the July 4 deadline for a decision.

If and when Perez announces a decision on July 4, that would only be five months away from the end of the CW program on Dec. 31.

Gubernatorial candidate and former governor Juan N. Babauta also wrote a letter to Perez dated May 11, urging the U.S. Labor secretary to extend the CW program by five years to bring “stability and predictability for businesses and other employers in the CNMI” and to provide time for these businesses to “plan ahead in increasing the employment of U.S. citizens and other U.S. eligible workers in the workforce.”

Inos, in his Tuesday letter to Perez, talked about two major construction projects in the planning and development stages that will create a combined 2,600 more hotel rooms in the CNMI.

The governor was referring to a new hotel in Marpi and San Antonio of at least 300 rooms each. The 2,000 new hotel rooms are part of a planned integrated resort plan that also includes a casino on Saipan, but the construction of which still depends on the decision of the Lottery Commission whether to grant an exclusive Saipan casino license.

Inos said both of these projects are genuine and will require additional construction workers and hospitality workers to complete and operate.

“These two development projects are the first major construction and/or growth projects initiated in the CNMI in over a decade and hopefully signal a turning point from the economic stagnation which has prevented economic growth and success in the CNMI,” he said.

Inos added that the projects present an “incredibly positive opportunity to develop our tourism-based economy and the extension of the CW program will enable these projects to come into operation and more importantly, continue the internal transformation of our workforce from foreign-based workers to a U.S. citizen-based workforce.”

The direct byproducts of projects like this in the long run, he said, will be more jobs and a progressively higher standard of living for CNMI citizens.

“But please understand, there are simply not enough U.S. citizen workers in our islands at this time to bring these projects to fruition and, given the Commonwealth’s somewhat unique economic circumstances, history, and geographical location, an extension of the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker Classification program is an absolute prerequisite for success,” Inos told Perez.

Copies of Inos’ letter were also sent to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and the CNMI’s delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, Sablan. The governor also furnished copies to the CNMI Legislature.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce and other private sector groups in the CNMI have also asked to extend the CW program.

As frustration grows with the lack of a decision on a CW extension, Sablan recently introduced a standalone bill extending the CW program by five years. This is similar to the language contained in Sablan’s Omnibus Territories Act or HR 2200 and its Senate companion, S. 1237.

For this year, DHS capped the number of foreign workers in the CNMI at 14,000.

“That’s a long way from zero,” Sablan had said.