'Walking papers' issued to nearly 400 govt workers

Sunday November 11, 2007
Local ST-Monday, November 12, 2007

By Agnes E. DonatoReporter

The Fitial administration has begun issuing walking papers to nearly 400 workers who were granted partial term contracts because of lack of funding.An employee at the Governor’s Office, who asked not to be named, said he received notice on Wednesday that, as stated in his contract, Dec. 21 would be his last day of work. He is saddened by the news, but remains hopeful something can happen before then.Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. confirmed that the Executive Branch had begun sending out notices. He maintained that the employment contracts do not require this, but the government is doing this to prevent any possible legal problems.The reduced employment term apply to contractual positions, and include 111 jobs on Rota, 129 on Tinian, 47 on Saipan, and 67 within the Governor’s Office. The layoff is part of the governor’s FY2008 budget plan, which remains pending in the Legislature.“We were hoping the Legislature would help us save some of these jobs. Regrettably, we we have not been able to get consensus with the Legislature on the budget, as well as cost cutting measures like the unpaid holidays and reduced retirement contribution,” said Reyes.The Fitial administration also issued furlough notices to employees last year, but many were recalled after the Legislature passed cost-cutting measures like the austerity Fridays law.The planned layoff results from the governor’s decision to raise the funding level for “prioritized activities” such as public health, public safety, education, revenue collection, labor, judiciary and law enforcement, tourism promotion, public works, parks and grounds, and zoning.Under the governor’s proposal, these activities will take up 80 percent of the government’s total budget of $161.585 million. This is an increase of 5.96 percent, or $7.2 million, compared to FY2007.“Unfortunately, this commitment to prioritized activities funding will translate into a budget cut of $8.98 million to other activities in comparison to FY07 funding level. As an unavoidable result, we are not faced with only being able to fund 397 currently filled excepted service [full time] positions from Oct 1 to Dec 22, 2007,” Fitial told the Legislature.Meanwhile, the administration proposes to fill 267 vacancies in government. Antonio Muna, the governor’s special assistant for management and budget, said these vacancies include mostly essential positions such as police officers, attorneys, investigators, and medical professionals, and very few support staff.Muna said those among the 397 who qualify for these vacancies will be given priority in hiring.The rest will have no choice but to seek jobs with the federal government, the private sector, or elsewhere.