Guam project needs U.S. workers, wages
The overarching goal for most major actions and expenditures by Congress and the Obama administration in the past six months has been to create or save jobs. Jobs are one of the primary goals of the Guam provision in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.
The measure authorizes a multi-year, multi-billion dollar building program on the island of Guam to construct a new home for the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Forces and elements of other units that have been stationed on the island of Okinawa and in mainland Japan for many years. This means building permanent military facilities to accommodate about 8,000 military personnel and as many as 9,000 family members. The move is the result of a lengthy, detailed agreement between the United States and Japan, under which the U.S. will pay about 40 percent of the cost.
When members of the House Armed Services Committee considered the matter, we had two aims: to create stable, well-paid jobs for skilled American building and construction workers to replace some of the thousands of jobs lost in this economic recession, and to provide our men and women in uniform and their families with high quality, comfortable and durable buildings and facilities in a secure environment for them to work, train and live in.
This five-year project will require 15,000 or more construction workers. The workers will relocate to Guam for months, or even years, to supplement the local workforce. I did not hesitate to reserve 70 percent of those jobs for American workers, and the House Armed Services Committee and House of Representatives agreed.
For the last 12 years, family housing and other facilities on U.S. military base have been constructed through a public-private joint venture (PPV) model, which former Rep. Joel Hefley and I authored, in which a company wins a multi-year contract to build, maintain, repair and manage family housing and other structures on a base.
The company builds out the project and makes its money from the Basic Allowance for Housing paid by the military families who live in the housing.
In Hawai'i, we negotiated 50-year agreements with our construction companies at Schofield Barracks, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Station and Marine Base Kaneohe. The product and the process have been widely praised by military families and leaders.
Through these PPVs:
This PPV model would have significant benefits for the Guam military construction project, and more particularly, for the Marine Corps itself.
Wages should be paid commensurate with the level of experience and skill of the building trades workers who will be leaving their homes and, probably, their families. The measure would set their pay at the prevailing wage level for similar projects in Hawai'i, the closest U.S. labor market. Guam's prevailing wage is significantly less than most U.S. labor markets; its tax base is limited; and its working population has a fraction of the trained and skilled workers needed to do a job that meets federal standards.
Outsourcing these jobs to Japanese companies employing foreign nationals, for which the Guam government collects a bounty of $1,000 per head, will open the door to profiteering and continued wage bondage, and be a slap in the face of every qualified, unemployed American worker.
Relocating thousands of military personnel and their families from Okinawa to Guam is a massive undertaking.The project will offer thousands of local jobs, thousands more from outside, create opportunities for local small businesses and transform the economy of the island. It is also a singular opportunity to put Americans to work, in an American territory, building America's future in the Pacific. Economic security and national security go hand in hand.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
