A House committee has approved wage and labor conditions governing the huge buildup on Guam for the transfer of 8,000 Marines from Japan, including a 30 percent cap on foreign workers and pay scales similar to Hawai'i's.
The Marines begin their move to Guam next year. Work there on infrastructure to support them is expected to cost $10 billion and generate thousands of jobs and scores of large contracts, some potentially for companies in Hawai'i.
The House Armed Services Committee recently agreed to the wage and labor conditions, written by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a senior member of the committee. They're part of a bill authorizing military spending for 2010.
Abercrombie said he is concerned foreign contractors on Guam might cut corners and hire overseas workers to toil under substandard conditions, edging out American companies bound to higher standards.
"At a time when a depressed economy has dealt a body blow to our construction industry, the Department of Defense should not even consider turning over badly needed jobs to foreign workers at questionable wages," said Abercrombie, who is running for governor in Hawai'i. "This is a huge opportunity to put Americans to work in an American territory, building an American military base."
But some of Abercrombie's restrictions have raised red flags with Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, who also sits on the Armed Services Committee. The Marines' move would be a huge economic boon for Guam, and congressional infighting could delay it.
Of special concern for Bordallo is linking construction wages for U.S. military building on Guam to the Hawai'i pay scale. Hawai'i's construction wages can be double the pay on Guam.
"This provision adds significant costs to the projects, which raises serious concerns," Bordallo said. "I believe the Department of Defense and the committee leadership will evaluate this provision more closely as the defense bill progresses."
Abercrombie's concerns stem from a measure in the Marine relocation plan that would allow Japanese contractors the same access as American firms — in Hawai'i and elsewhere — to more than $2.5 billion in contracts to build military housing on Guam.
Typically, military housing on American territory is built using a 20-year-old public-private arrangement. Private firms — usually American — finance and build the housing in exchange for long-term maintenance and rental contracts.
Japanese access to the housing contracts would come as part of a deal in which the Japanese would provide financing for more than half the total cost of the Marine Corps move to Guam, first estimated at $4 billion and now at $10 billion and rising.
The Japanese government has been under intense political pressure to get the Marines off Okinawa since 1995, when three U.S. servicemen raped a 12-year-old girl there, straining U.S.-Japan relations. In all, the U.S. has about 50,000 military personnel in Japan.
Lawmakers have raised concerns about the size, scope and cost of the move to Guam, as has the Marine Corps' top officer.
The Marine commandant, Gen. James Conway, recently told House appropriators that the move might not be complete by the 2014 deadline, raising the specter of more cost overruns.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office concluded that Guam's infrastructure — roads, ports, electrical grid and waste facilities — would be highly stressed by the influx of the Marines and their dependents. By JOHN YAUKEY - Advertiser Washington Bureau
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