Job market in Guam to get smaller for Pinoys

Filipino workers may soon have a hard time landing any of the thousands of job openings in Guam due to a US lawmaker’s recent proposal for 70 percent of the employment opportunities in the American territory to be allotted to US citizens and the rest to be filled by foreign workers.

This, recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said, may become the scenario after 1st District of Hawaii Rep. Neil Abercrombie has proposed an amendment to a defense bill that will limit the hiring of foreign workers and for wages in Guam to be set at levels similar to Hawaii’s, where labor costs are lower.

“It will be a huge setback for our workers and the Filipinos in Guam if the amendment is not stricken off or modified by US legislators since it contradicts a long standing democratic principle of Americans which is equality for all men,” Geslani said.

“It is a discriminatory and protective move by Rep. Abercrombie that will not appease his fellow legislators in the US House of Representatives,” he added.

According to Geslani, contract bids for a huge project in Guam have also been delayed due to disputes and deadlocks in the processes for the construction of a base housing for thousands of US Marines and their families who will be relocating from Okinawa, Japan to Guam.

If such problems continue, he said the project could take very long to complete, even beyond 2014.

The transfer of US personnel to Guam is set to begin in 2012 while the additional active duty personnel and their dependents are being expected to be fully relocated by 2014.

The movement will require additional facilities for the incoming 23,000 military servicemen and their families, bringing a total of 18,930 active duty and 19,140 dependents.

Quality standards for the new quarters are said to be one of the disputed elements. One official said once the objections are ironed out, it will take at least 1 ½ years before a bidder is chosen for to build the housing, and another 3-4 years for construction to be accomplished, Geslani said.

“A delay also with the funding of the US Defense bill in the US House of Representatives will certainly affect the timetable of for the US Armed Forces and the expected of mobilization of workers by the first quarter of 2010,” he moreover said.

Furthermore, Geslani said another issue which is yet to be resolved is the contents of the standard employment contract of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which goes contrary to Guam labor laws. The contract is patterned after a US mainland provision stating that food and accommodation will be shouldered by the worker and not by his employer.

Moreover, the airfare of about $400 plus the service fee of $1,000-1200 and the visa fee of $1,000 for a H 2-B temporary working visa may turn off contractors who want to hire Filipinos since a contractor in Guam would have to shell out $2,400 for each Filipino worker.

“Therefore it would be easier to hire jobless Americans or other foreign workers, who, being from the mainland of countries, can fly in on their own airfare without the need for a visa. (It would also require) no service fee, so there would be no additional costs if a contractor hires Americans, who now number around 2.5 million jobless, mostly in the construction and home industry,” Geslani said.

In the meantime, prospective overseas Filipino workers are advised to wait until the POEA clears up the situation and accredits selected agencies for the huge military project.

The selection of the agencies will be done according to a criteria being drafted by the agency for licensed recruitment agencies interested in gaining access to the Guam labor market.

Geslani at the same time warned Filipinos that the POEA is not currently processing any job orders for Guam and be wary of listening to illegal recruiters who are going around the provinces and offering work in the US island-territory. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune