Housing perks for 200 CHC hospital employees remain

Read entire article from the Saipan Tribune

"Saipan Tribune learned that hospital employees with dependents who are hired from off-island get an $800 monthly housing allowance; single employees get $500.
A number of CHC employees whose contracts were renewed in June lost this benefit after the government suspended paying for housing allowances due to declining revenues. Since then, many hospital personnel have resigned or are considering resigning from their posts.To stem any further losses in personnel, Untalan said they will be reinstating the benefit but, instead of classifying it as a “housing allowance” on the payroll, the amount will be added to the existing salary of each personnel."

I question the information in this article. No nurses even thought about quiting CHC. If anyone actually quit, why hasn't there been a single job posting (with the exception of a Board of Nursing clerk at 12,000 per year). I think this was all planned out. Local nurses protested that non-residents were getting paid more than they were since they didn't get the housing allowance. The legislature decided to cut the non-resident's housing allowance and then made everyone (including the local nurses), get 10,000 raises. Now the local residents are happy, just in time for the November election.

***** UPDATE***** Unfortunately, this article is not what seem to be going on at CHC. No nurses given raises, and they even cut the night shift differential. Raises are only planned for positions deemed to be in shortage such as a renal social worker, and nursing director. There is talk about the nurses meeting with a lawyer.

New Job Posting

Employer: Micronesian Health Corp. dba Island Medical Center
Contact Person: Antony Glad
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: New
FLSA Covered? No
Number of Openings: 2
Worksite location: Chalan Kanoa
Job Title: Registered Nurse
Announcement Number: 09-08-16950
Job Classification: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations
Opening Date: 8/3/2009
Closing Date: 8/17/2009
Salary Range: $4.55 to $7 / Hourly
Full or Part Time: Full Time

Tony Glad is the same guy that had the Island Medical Center closed down a couple of years ago and made some remarks that were addressed by the Philippine General Counsel.

“I am writing to express concern over your remarks during an interview with KSPN on 14 March 2008, during which you were heard to say, in connection with the recent departure of the Filipino accountant of Island Medical Center, that 'It is typical of the Filipinos...when they have problems...they [dis]appear and leave for some reasons,'" Maximo said in his March 19, letter to Glad.

I thought that the purpose of PL 16-208 was to be able to hire nurse graduates from NMC without experience, but it seems that all the posting require at least two years for both foreign and local applicants. This posting reports that they are not covered by the FLSA however according to the FLSA fact sheet ALL nursed whether registered or lpn's are covered under the FLSA unless they are RN's in an administrative role and are paid not less than $455 per week.

Discrepancy in salaries demoralizing local nurses

June 17, 2009 Saipan Tribune Article
"-For instance, Castro said, while an off-island recruit gets $40,000 per annum on top of benefits like housing allowance, a graduate of the Northern Mariana College would get only about $23,000 without the benefits."

All I can say is wow. A Registered Nurse that graduated from the only public college that offers a R.N. in nursing gets paid slightly over $10 with no benifits. And people wonder why nurses are leaving the island with some local nurses opting for endorsement in Oklahoma instead of CNMI.

-Prevailing wages in the CNMI ranges from $24,889.35 to $42,000 annually for RNs; $20,484.60 to $30,450 for LPNs; and $13,052.21 to $22,302.94 for NAs.

When federalization occurs, local nurses might get priority in hiring. You can hire a foreign nurse with 2 years experience for $12 an hour, why would you pay a local nurse with no experience any more. All new foreign hires after November 28th, 2009 will have be paid 40K a year or more. I wonder what will happen.