Planned US military buildup in Guam means jobs for Pinoys - envoy

JUDE O MARFIL-SCHWALBACH, GMANews.TV

The US House of Representatives' subcommittee on insular affairs will hold a field hearing in Guam on Monday to tackle the impact of the planned military buildup in this American territory.
"The hearing will provide (us) with a unique opportunity to hear from a diverse array of voices and gain a better understanding into efforts currently underway to prepare the community for the approaching military buildup on the island," said Rep. Donna M. Christensen of Virgin Islands, who chairs the subcommittee.

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the University of Guam's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Lecture Hall. It is open to the public.

By 2010, some 8,000 US military and their some 9,000 relatives are moving to Guam from Okinawa, Japan. Military estimates showed the transfer means an infusion of $10.27 billion in defense-related projects for the island.

Philippine Consul General in Guam Bayani S. Mercado viewed this as a "positive development for it presents numerous employment opportunities for the Filipino workers and the Filipino-American community."

The military expansion is expected to boost Guam's economy. In the construction sector alone, income is seen to triple to $3 billion from the $800 million, which is the highest figure Guam has posted.

The relocation of soldiers and their families and the deployment of additional military materiel to Guam calls for the construction of housing facilities and other basic infrastructure.

This means between 12,000 to 30,000 additional workers are needed.

"Considering its geographical proximity to the island, the Philippines with its English-speaking, highly trained professionals and skilled workers presents a viable source of manpower for Guam," Mercado said.

However, Mercado pointed out: "One of the concerns is the question of how to bring additional Filipino workers to Guam with the existing visa cap on H-2 workers."

Under the present setup, the US government only grants 66,000 in H-2b workers visa annually.

H-2b visa is a working visa which allows one to enter the US in a temporary basis and work in non-agricultural employment. It is usually given to skilled and unskilled workers. "Unless a new legislation will be passed or a new policy will be declared increasing the said quota, Guam cannot expect to be allocated its full visa requirement for the needed workers," the consul general said.

Mercado said there are discussions about the proposed issuance of "Guam-only visas." This could be similar to what the US Department of Interior has suggested to happen in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

"The administration is examining what policy changes, if any, will be necessary to ensure that there is an adequate supply of labor for the Guam buildup," said US Department of Interior's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David B. Cohen.

Cohen's office months ago drafted a CNMI federalized immigration bill which calls for a CNMI-only guest worker program.

Currently, there is no special labor arrangement between Guam and the Philippines, although Mercado said, discussions have been made on this subject when officials of Philippine Overseas Employment Agency visited in November 2006.

Based on the Consulate's estimates, there are about 14,000 Filipino workers in Guam, 70 percent of whom are engaged in health and medicine, engineering, accountancy, information technology as well as hotel services and construction-related work.

Filipino-Americans in Guam comprise around 42,000 or 26 percent of Guam's total population. - GMANews.TV

Guam Shipyard

by Sonya Artero, KUAM News

The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990 was the impetus behind the closure of Guam's former Ship Repair Facility. But just as SRF was scheduled for the BRAC chopping block, on September 30, 1997, a public private partnership was struck and today, the Guam Shipyard is one of the island's largest employers. We give you a tour of the Guam Shipyard to learn more about its operations, and the significant role it will play during our time of military expansion.

Because it's tucked deep inside the Navy base, we don't hear much about the Guam Shipyard. But with the increasing military buildup on Guam, the Guam Shipyard anticipates their expertise will mean a great deal. Their goal is to beef up operations to better meet the United States Navy's ship repair needs. Doing business for nearly a decade on Guam, Guam Shipyard's president and CEO Mathews Pothen says with the work of 300 skilled industrial workers, the shipyard has pumped approximately $100 million into Guam's economy. With 8,000 U.S. more Marines expected, Pothen equates Guam's military expansion to a rising tide that will benefit all local companies.

This is why Pothen constantly lobbies the Navy, with the help of Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, to send more ships Guam's way. Saying "you're only as good as your employees", Pothen credits his success to his skilled workforce. He told KUAM News, "We can have the best of machinery, the 110' lathe and water blaster machines, but if our employees are not trained to operate those, than we are nothing. So we can have the best of tools, but the training the Navy provided here in the SRF, we have been able to take advantage of that training and rehired those folks back as our employees and that what makes this a great team."

To better understand the challenges that face the workers, we turn to shipyard manager Keith Carter, who describes working on ships like working on small cities. "On a ship, everything has to fit into a much smaller box. It takes power, it takes cooling, it takes electrical and it takes propulsion. Everything you have outside, we put into a little box and it works out very well, so everyone is equally important here," he explained.

And in order to run that small city, production manager Greg Calvo says you need the skilled labor that the Guam Shipyard maintains by way of its fifteen shops and specialized trades. "Everything from electrical, transportation, rigging, welding, ship-fitting, sheet metal, painting, mechanical, machinery," he said.

While touring the facilities, we also noticed considerable upgrades and renovations being conducted to the property, which Guam Shipyard leases from the Government of Guam.

During its first five years on Guam, the Guam Shipyard rode some rough waves, but since the island's economy picked up, it's been full steam ahead. And had it not been for the former Ship Repair Facility's highly-specialized apprentice graduates, the Guam Shipyard would have floundered, which is why the company's president and CEO has heavily invested in establishing their very own apprenticeship program.

We present a tour of the facilities to better understand Guam Shipyard's need to train a readily-available workforce now, before it's too late. Back in the day, the Navy trained its SRF workforce via an apprenticeship program that accepted only the best and brightest. So when the Base Realignment and Closure Act closure threatened their jobs, the Guam Shipyard hired every one of them, except those who retired. And although the these apprentices may have aged, Guam Shipyard chief Mathews Pothen says they stand ready and willing to pass on their knowledge to Guam's future generation.

"Our workforce's average age is 47-48 years old. So you're looking at in the next 10-to-15 years half the workforce will walk out of this place. We need to get our apprentices trained so that these folks can impart their knowledge, what they have learned over the last 25 years to those younger generations so they can continue earning a good wage and continue servicing the military," explained Pothen.

As a former SRF apprentice himself, Greg Calvo, who is now the company's production manager, says being selected for their apprenticeship program has its benefits. He told KUAM News, "Not only do you learn a trade that you can take with you elsewhere or to another yard, but even while you're here, you make a decent salary. So in terms of livelihood, it's pretty good for us." But with glory also comes the challenges that shipyard manager Keith Carter says apprentices should be well aware of before fully committing themselves to the program.

A program he feels will pave the way for a brighter future. "This business is a tough business," he began.

"It's hard, you have to use your hands, you've got to think a lot about what you're doing when you're dealing with a lot of different customers and sometimes it's very critical about what we do," Carter continued. "But all in all, the company has a good management and has a good vision about what's going on so they are always planning for the future on what's happening here."

So backed with a U.S. Department of Labor-approved registered apprenticeship program, Pothen says much like the Navy's program, out of 500 people screened, the Guam Shipyard will choose the top thirty candidates to continue the skilled workforce legacy their current apprentices are eager to pass on. He said, "We have done the initial screening and we're going through the second set of screening. So we are hoping to get the best and the brightest out of those folks to start approximately 30 employees and out of those employees, it's going to be a four-year program. After training they can make some good wages working here."

After all, Pothen says the success of the Guam Shipyard's future lies in its apprenticeship program, which he hopes will result in Guam gaining a reputation for having a readily available skilled industrial workforce, which to the military, speaks volumes.