Two-pronged tactic on labor issues

The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is supporting a legislative fix on the CNMI labor and immigration issues while at the same time tapping its White House connections in pushing for improved immigration status for long-term foreign workers in the Commonwealth.

“We’re doing both legislative and administrative fix [to the CNMI’s work-related problems]. We know the White House’s importance, we know that they are on board with this,” said Torres during a press briefing last Tuesday at the Office of the Governor’s conference room.

“For long-term status, we really need a legislative fix. It is not something where we will wake up someday and it will just happen. Obviously, anything with immigration is not just [an issue] with this [Trump] administration. It has been an issue with every administration,” he said.

Torres just returned from Washington, D.C., where he led a CNMI delegation that attended legislative hearings in the U.S Congress and met with federal officials on workforce-related issues in the CNMI—the removal of the Philippines from the H-2B visa program and termination of the CNMI parole program.

However, the administration’s efforts of trying to lift the one-year ban on Filipino skilled workers from the H-2B visa program could hit a snag after the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment came out with a plan for a 90-percent cut in overseas deployment for construction workers.

Construction workers are also needed in the Philippines to help the “Build, Build, Build” programs of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Chinese workers have so far flooded the Philippines to compensate for the lack of local skilled workers.

Torres is pinning his hopes on the two bills—H.R. 559 and 560—that were introduced by Delegate Grergorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) in the U.S. House of Representatives to solve the labor woes of the Commonwealth.

“I’m just happy that there’s legislation on board, saying that we acknowledge long-term [workers] and that we are pushing for it [improved status]. We have been pushing for it since day 1,” said Torres.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres briefs reporters during a news briefing last Tuesday at the Office of the Governor’s conference room. (Jon Perez)

H.R. 559 or the Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act and H.R. 560 or the NMI Residents Relief Act. H.R. 559 hopes to address the issue of legal workers under the parole program, while H.R. 560 aims to give improved status to long-term guest workers.

NMI’s concerns

Torres said the work of Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente has also helped them push their cause. “I just want to commend Secretary Benavente. Since she got on board we [have] a better communication not just with Dr. [David] Gootnick and the [U.S. Government Accountability Office] but also with the federal [Department of Labor].”

Torres said Benavente made sure the data they presented were accurate, like the availability of jobs and job vacancies. “Also, the number of U.S. workers compared to nonresidents and the investment that are coming in. Those question are really important to begin with.”

“We are short of U.S. workers. The number that we have is 52 percent U.S. workers and 48 percent contract [foreign] workers. We’re trying to bring that information. That’s why [Secretary] Vicky [Benavente] was also there.

He added that House members Rob Bishop (R-UT), Delegate Amata Radewagen (R-AS), and Resident Commissioner Jennifer Gonzales Colon (R-PR) know the CNMI’s situation, which is why they immediately got on board in supporting both of Sablan’s bills—H.R. 559 and 560.

“Only three people in the committee have been in the CNMI—Radewagen, Bishop, and Gonzales-Colon. That’s why those who have been here, it is easy for them to support our cause and Kilili’s bill because they see the difference and they saw our need.”