Abercrombie Wins Union Support At Expense Of Guam's People

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - After fighting for construction industry wage hikes and American jobs to fuel the military buildup on Guam, Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie has walked away with a compromise that should make his voting base happy -- and send Guam's business community into shock!

According to a media release from Abercrombie office, a joint conference committee of the House and Senate have agreed (a) to require federal contractors on Guam to solicit American jobs before any jobs can be given to foreign workers, and (b) that "Guam wage rates cannot be kept artificially low by including low wage foreign workers in calculations."

Are Guam's Leaders As Influential For Their Voters As Abercrombie Is For His?

Abercrombie is running for Governor of Hawaii and has consistently and openly admitted that he is committed to protecting American jobs and Hawaii jobs at prevailing union wage rates.

On the other hand, most Guam leaders who have cared to weigh in on the matter have publicly campaigned against amendments that Abercrombie had included in a House version of the 2010 Defense Authorization Act to favor American jobs at Hawaii wage rates for Guam's buildup.

But, as the jointly-compromised Defense spending bill now heads into final debate in the House and Senate, it's looking more and more like Abercrombie has managed to overcome Guam's opposition and impose his will on the island's business community.

The Feared Effects Of Steeply Rising Construction Wages

The consequences? Local business and government leaders alike have largely agreed that steep and sudden wage increases will agitate inflation and increase artificially high prices, hurt non-construction wage earners, and force small contractors out of business because construction workers will favor higher paying federal work at wages most local builders can't afford. Most of Guam's contractors don't have the resources, knowledge, experience or wherewithal to compete for massive government contracts. Higher-wage federal jobs may force non-federal wage rates up, too, and therefore increase the cost of off-base construction. And higher civilian construction costs could price homebuyers out of the market.

Read the Honolulu Advertiser story, "Abercrombie's Guam provision could be boost for Isle construction industry", October 7, 2009.

Here is Congressman Abercrombie's news announcement in its entirety:

Abercrombie Provisions Prevail In 2010 Defense Legislation

Washington, D.C. - As House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act following weeks of negotiations, the influence of Representative Neil Abercrombie is apparent in several sections of the nearly $700 billion measure that authorizes all operations of the U.S. military and the Department of Defense.

Abercrombie, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces, added language to the bill in June to reform the hiring process for the Guam military construction project.

The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, with 8,000 Marines and supporting units will relocate from Okinawa, Japan to Guam, requiring the largest military construction project since the end of World War II. An entire military base has to be built from scratch, including headquarters, communication, transportation, supply, training and transportation facilities, barracks for enlisted and officers, a hospital, and family housing for an estimated 9,000 family members who will accompany the force to Guam.

Abercrombie focused on the estimated 15,000 construction jobs that will be created. "The model for large construction projects on Guam has been to outsource the work; to allow labor contractors to bring in thousands of foreign workers, pay a bounty of $1000 per worker to the Government of Guam, pay the workers bare subsistence wages with no benefits, house them in work camps and charge them for room and meals," said Abercrombie. "The House Armed Services Committee agreed that since we were building a base for the U.S. military in a U.S. territory paid for with U.S. dollars, it made sense to make as many jobs as possible available to U.S. workers, especially when unemployment for American construction workers is hitting 20%."

The final language in the Defense Bill requires that Guam contractors advertise and recruit U.S. workers under oversight from the U.S. Department of Labor before any foreign workers can be hired.

Abercrombie also wanted to bring construction wages up to the level of many U.S. labor markets. Guam business interests fought that off, but Abercrombie won approval for a requirement that the Guam wage rates cannot be kept artificially low by including low wage foreign workers in calculations. Guam's current prevailing wages are lower than all 50 states, yet the cost of living is nearly equal to Hawaii's.

A second Abercrombie initiative in the Defense Bill brings fairness to 50,000 federal employees in Hawaii, Alaska and U.S. Territories. Currently, they receive annual cost of living adjustments (COLA) to help meet higher living costs. But workers on the mainland get locality pay instead. The difference comes at retirement. Locality pay counts toward salary when retirement pensions are computed; COLAs do not. So, mainland employees get higher retirement pay than their Hawaii and Alaska counterparts.

"It's a matter of fairness" Abercrombie said. "Federal employees in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Pacific Islands should not have to settle for less financial security in their retirement."

Perhaps the most sweeping Abercrombie provision is a competitive engine for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is still in development. Congress has argued that having a "back-up" engine, in case of problems with the first, will ultimately save money. In fact, a Defense Department report concludes that a back-up engine will ultimately save the F-35 program $2.2 billion. The original engine design has already had three ground test failures, including one last month.

"The F-35 will eventually comprise 90% of the country's fighter aircraft fleet, for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy," Abercrombie said. "Complete reliance on one type of engine would not be wise, particularly when that engine is already 50% over its cost estimate and continues to have problems in testing."

Such a situation occurred when the Air Force awarded a sole source engine contract for the F-15 fighter in the 1970s. When that engine proved unreliable, a lot of first line fighter aircraft had to be grounded, and an urgent, expensive effort was launched to build an alternate power plant. It was called ‘the Great Engine War,' and it cost billions of dollars.

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BobbyJay   |2009-10-08 11:26:15 This is good... American money will stay in America. So what's the beef? Why support foreigners? Reply | Quote 4   0

Lynyrd     |2009-10-09 04:31:32 Did you even read the article? The people of Guam cannot compete with the resources of other states. "The feared effects of steeply rising construction wages" Reply | Quote 1   2

Anonymous   |2009-10-09 12:07:01 You are just parroting the party line. What is wrong with keeping American money in America? Billions of American money is coming into Guam. Why dole it out to people who will be sending it back to their country. This is not international aid money. And of course I read the article, and a LOT more regarding this subject. Have you? American jobs for Americans! They will be paid the prevailing wages on Guam. The skilled and educated people here have nothing to worry about. It is a good time now for local people to improve their skills set instead of waiting for a dole. Reply | Quote 2   0

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