Labor to establish apprenticeship program

To keep up with its mandate of employing U.S. citizens, the CNMI Department of Labor is looking at establishing apprenticeship programs with construction companies as partners.

“We are actually trying to set up a meeting to meet with Pacific Rim [Contractors] so that we can assist them and see what their plans are with regards to training. The construction industry is very lacking as far as U.S. citizens are concerned so we want to do a partnership with them such as an apprenticeship program,” said Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente.

“We haven’t met with them and this is just one of the things that we want to discuss so we are setting up that meeting as soon as possible,” she added.

Pacific Rim is a Guam-based contractor who will reportedly continue the construction of the Imperial Pacific Resort in Garapan.

In an earlier interview, Pacific Rim president Keith Stewart, said that the target right now is to meet the requirements IPI has established with the CNMI government, which is to build 250 rooms at Imperial Pacific Resort by August this year and help grow the workforce.

“We signed a contract with IPI… so we are looking for talented craftsmen and craftswomen. If you have the talent and we are looking at every trade right now, we have a lot of opportunities,” he said.

“We are looking to hire everyone we can possibly hire on Saipan… As a Guam-based contractor, we’ve only hired local workers, so that is our first choice,” he added.

Aside from IPI, Pacific Rim is also involved with other construction projects on island such as the Isa Villas on Capital Hill. Isa Villas is a low-cost housing project that aims to build 27 units. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Benavente said an apprenticeship program with Pacific Rim is ideal because they are a new company on island.

“Pacific Rim is brand new on island and I am also new as labor secretary so it is an opportune time for us to meet a new set of workers and see the possibilities for our local workforce,” she said.

“They are currently working on a big project and we would like to see and see how the CNMI Dept. of Labor can tie up training initiatives for our people with this construction company and make it work for the CNMI citizens and U.S. citizens,” she added

Last month, IPI through the Hasselback Law Firm was able to acquire over 1,044 H2B visas for various construction work positions.

“They did that on their own and the Dept. of Labor is here to assist all companies with their initiatives to employ people in the CNMI whether they are U.S. citizens or not. I congratulate them and looking forward for the construction industry to flourish,” Benavente said.

“As for the foreign workers, we totally understand the need of construction workers to come from off-island because of the lack of workers here, but we also have to always remember our mandate to always put U.S. citizens in these jobs,” she added.