Is this what being investor-friendly is?

Letters to the Editor Tuesday, December 04, 2007

I have spoken about how difficult it is to do business here in the CNMI with the current policies of labor. Yes, it is quite true that the current labor laws are not favorable to the investors, so who are we kidding? The islands' labor laws prevent us from being investor-friendly, as many had hoped due to the administration's commitment and guarantee that new investment will pour in. Unfortunately, there were only a few of businesses that actually came, most notably Asiana Airlines purchasing the Lao Lao Bay Golf Course. Of course, this is good for the islands, but I don't think that the CNMI should bend over backwards for one particular company. As many would say, be fair to everyone, place fairness above everything else. I heard that we already have an Asiana Day from the recent efforts of Asiana placing daytime flights to the CNMI. Fine, but how about other airlines that have come through and provided the needed aid to our ailing tourist arrivals these days, notably Northwest Airlines. Is there a Northwest Airlines Day? I am an advocate of what MVA does to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities for the CNMI, but I am not in favor of providing benefits to one company and one company alone. It is good to know of the investment, but we must not give up everything we have and cater to their every need as we must be fair to everyone else, whether big or small. My point is really on the investors side as I have friends who have invested their life savings and more to do business here in the CNMI. I may not speak of conglomerate companies such as Asiana Airlines, but nevertheless it is these businesses that keep the economy stable, the little ones that cannot be undermined. I continuously mention about our labor laws, those of which need to be heard and changed. I mentioned about a friend who was coerced into making a complaint against his employer on false accusations only to stay in the CNMI longer and find a new employer! What are we doing to protect the employers? It seems that these individuals are provided a system that benefits them and they know it! Where is Department of Commerce in this? Where are our business leaders from the Saipan Chamber on this? Where is Labor on this? Where is our administration on this? We cannot be an investor-friendly island if our laws do not reflect that. I hear numerous stories about new businesses being formed and how they crumble due to a simple labor complaint. I do wish for our newly elected leaders to reassess the current labor laws. As I mentioned in my previous letter to the editor, we need to address the following: 1. Employers' responsibility for pregnant employees. Why should this be the responsibility of the employer, when this is clearly not a sickness? Shouldn't the laws be changed to have the employees acquire their personal medical insurance as our locals do? It would be nice and fair if employers offered these benefits to our locals as well, but we all know this will not happen. Granted the minimum wage increase, now everyone should be on the same playing field, both locals and contract workers alike. 2. Investigation on labor complaints. I believe that Labor needs to step up its investigations and not be one-sided. I mentioned about the need to go into Labor and have the complaint sanctioned by a labor official, how ridiculous is this? For every complaint we record, it must be sanctioned by a Labor official in person while the employer and the employee is present. I do not understand the reasoning behind all of these. I thought the employer simply records the incident, have the employee acknowledge their faults as they sign and that covers the issues, but in my experience and through numerous friends of mine, that is never the case as Labor in most cases take the one-sided story of the employees who make the complaints. Bright and intellectual individuals working at Labor also mentioned that as an employer, your rights are limited when a complaint is made. This is coming from Labor itself! How can fair judgment on employees versus employers be provided if the system and its laws favor the employees ONLY? Investor-friendly? I don't think so. 3. Another item that needs to be looked into is CUC. I am not here to rant and rave about the rising cost in utilities even though it is hurting, but more on the professionalism of the staff at the utilities office. For a few months now, I have been receiving erroneous utility charges as provided by the CUC. Many times in the few months we have met with CUC officials informing them of the erroneous utility charges that sum up to the thousands on a room that does not require or use up the power as stated in the statement we receive. The response was, “We will correct the problem and you should not see this again.” Behold, the next month's billing contains another erroneous charge from the utility company. We have started to monitor our own usage by recording the daily usage of power. Probably our records are more accurate than that of CUC. Is this one of those get-rich-quick schemes? Fool the community for personal gain? I challenge the CUC director and for that matter the administration to get down hard on these unnecessary problems that exist within the CUC. These are frustrating issues that businesses need not face. You may also want to look at your people handling these issues. They too make promises that cannot be kept! Sounds too familiar, common politician practices to gain votes. We need the public sector to be more professional, especially when dealing with clients who pay for their salaries. I understand the governor will meet each Cabinet head on separate issues. I do hope that these items I am mentioning on Labor and CUC will be looked at seriously. I still believe that we can all benefit from the right leadership and the proper action taken. Governor, as the top official of the CNMI, you have the power to look at these faults and rectify the problems to make the islands an investor-friendly place so more of us in the business community can bring in the needed investors for our economy.Hermaine Q. PhillipsKoblerville, Saipan
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