Written by Kevin Kerrigan - Pacific News Center
Guam - Hawaii Representative Neil Abercrombie is standing by his controversial amendments to the 2010 Defense Authorization Act that critics have said would double the cost of the Guam military buildup and spark inflation on island.
Abercrombie inserted two provisions in the Act, one requiring Hawaiian construction wages be paid on Guam buildup jobs, the other restricting H-2 workers to just 30% of any buildup job.
Guam's Governor, Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, island business leaders, and some, but not all legislators, oppose the Abercrombie amendments.
A recent Editorial in the Washington Post criticized Abercrombie's amendments as being too costly.
However, from PNC's Washington Bureau, Peter Granitz of Capital News Connection (CNC)(http://www.cncnews.org/) caught up with the Hawaiian Representative to ask about the criticism.
Abercrombie defended his amendments saying they will prevent employers from exploiting low-wage workers on Guam.
“There’s no way we’re going to have an elite making a ton of money and a wage slave class out in Guam, no more second class citizenship for workers in Guam," Abercrombie told CNC.
In response to the Washington Post Editorial, Abercrombie said the Post should concentrate on journalism: “I’d ask any of the Post’s editors: Will you work for the prevailing wage in Guam? When you do that you can start lecturing me or anybody else about what people should earn.”
The Defense Authorization Act has moved onto the Senate. A final vote is not expected until the fall.
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