RESIDENT WORKERS NOT RELIABLEThe sorry saga of trying to hire reliable workers. I am only passing this along, this is not of my creation, but as a messenger, to allow the people to see the problem. If you don't like the message, don't shoot the messenger.
Atalig: Resident Workers Are Unreliable
Owner and general manager Felipe Atalig said Casa de Felipe's ultimate goal has always been to hire and train local workers, however; he said that goal has always fallen short because of the unreliability of the resident workers he has so far hired. Atalig, whose manpower agency has been providing nonresident workers to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. the past 10 years, said the reason why none of the resident workers he has hired lasted is due to three factors. He said resident workers he has so far hired demand a higher wage rate than what they are already getting, which is $6.50/hour. Atalig added that the environment at the CUC is too hot, too dirty, and too oily for them and the worst part, according to him, is they are absent most of the time. Atalig said there was even an instance that a CUC supervisor caught his resident workers sleeping on the job at 5 o'clock in the morning. He added that one of his local employees also was absent 25 days in a period of three months.
Atalig: Resident Workers Are Unreliable
Owner and general manager Felipe Atalig said Casa de Felipe's ultimate goal has always been to hire and train local workers, however; he said that goal has always fallen short because of the unreliability of the resident workers he has so far hired. Atalig, whose manpower agency has been providing nonresident workers to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. the past 10 years, said the reason why none of the resident workers he has hired lasted is due to three factors. He said resident workers he has so far hired demand a higher wage rate than what they are already getting, which is $6.50/hour. Atalig added that the environment at the CUC is too hot, too dirty, and too oily for them and the worst part, according to him, is they are absent most of the time. Atalig said there was even an instance that a CUC supervisor caught his resident workers sleeping on the job at 5 o'clock in the morning. He added that one of his local employees also was absent 25 days in a period of three months.
.....GED.....
4 comments:
In my extensive experience with resident workers.. if they are getting a decent wage for the work they're asked to do, and they're either qualified for the job or are properly trained, they have in every instance proved excellent employees.
In an article in the paper today, Mr. Atalig boasted that all 20 of his employees with the exception of 2 are certified Mechanical Engineers. They know the ins and outs of the CUC engines, as they've been working there for over 10 years. AND THEY ARE MAKING ONLY $6.50 and hour????!!!
This is the insanity of it all. A mechanical engineer, certified nonetheless and vastly experienced, getting paid 6.50 per hour. Now what sane person who isn't being provided housing, medical insurance or transportation, who have daily family obligations here, who have in many cases far more obligations than a transient worker, such as car payments, loan payments, etc., is going to put up with too much for $6.50 an hour.
$6.50 an hour is less than a fast food employee makes anywhere else in America.
You pay that trainee a fair wage for that kind of work and that employee is not going anywhere.
Sorry if I went on a bit. But that has been my long experience with workers here. Low paying jobs in relation to the work are "transient" jobs. No different from fast food jobs, or babysitting jobs. When pay in relation to the work is fair, people keep those jobs.
A lot of employers have not had the extensive experience with resident workers as you have, in fact most have had a far less satisfactory exrerience then you have had. Hence the results are many accounts the same as related in this post. This is not a one sided problem to be all put on the employers. There must be a realization of the truths and these truths must be faced, brough out into the light and addressed. There can no longer be a certain ignoring of and pussy footing around the issues. Times are at push and shove at this point and things are getting tough.the reason I posted this story was to get to some of these unspoken and unaddressed problems. These problems being the very ones mentioned by the news story. I did not make this up, I only put it in your face, the problem isn't in who's story it is or who's telling it, but the facts in the story content. To try to narrow down what the content of the story is Summary: I'll put it this way. Employers are willing to hire resident workers...Resident workers when hired do not pull their weight and are undependable. That is it put in a nutshell. Now I am certain there are good and reliable resident workers. I've personally seen, worked with, and even employed some, very good people but overall this problem keeps surfacing over and over. We can argue training, wage levels, rights and wrongs and most everything you want but in the end most will fall under the above mentioned summery. If this were not the case we wouldn't have stoeirs appearing like the one posted in the newspapers.
Lil, I wanted to do my next post on this issue so I'm going to stop here and paste it in a new post to share this with everyone...To be continued...
Glen, I agree.. it is definitely not a one-sided problem and I didn't mean it to sound that way. But the fact is, if you aren't going to pay people a wage that is going to keep them on, maybe you're not paying enough.
I use the example of masons in Guam. They're being advertised in the Pacific Daily News at $16.00 - $20.00 per hour. If we were paying anything close to this out here when I graduated high school, I would've probably become a mason. But for $3.05 an hour, I might come work for you for a couple weeks.. don't expect me to stay on and don't expect me to break my back.
Hence the fear by many that if non-resident workers are given permanent status, they will take off for Guam or the mainland. They will over time. Normal semi-educated people will not work for a few bucks an hour here.
OK Lil, You have valid points for sure, all you say makes sense, in fact it is facts, so why all the guff by the government as to how a few .50 cent raises will ruin the economy, this is what I don't get. You say they aren't getting paid enough, That is true across the board. Not enough pay simple. We have now crossed that abyss. So what is the solution to the wage problem, ...your turn...
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