President Matt Rector responded to an editorial from John Anderson, “Get Ready, Tony†who pointed out that the Civil Service Commission is providing strong union protection for public workers. “I have to agree with you that GovGuam employees have “a pretty strong union protecting their interests†but it isn’t the Civil Service Commission (CSC), its GFT, Guam’s Local Union! The CSC doesn’t advocate for or against employees, they are essentially a Labor or arbitration board that rules on the merit of cases. It is up to the employee’s union (GFT) representative to prepare and make the case on the employee’s behalf,†Rector clarified. With the Governor’s lay-off plan going into effect, GFT will help affected members fight for their jobs.
“We truly represent Public Employee’s interests we hope to rally all these hard working men and women and their families to convince our elected leaders that a better course is to grow our economy by passing a Living Wage law, as opposed to hurting our economy and thousands of Guam’s families with these cuts… Not only will the already understaffed public agencies struggle even more to provide our families with the services that make Guam a decent, civil place to live but businesses as well will suffer huge losses as these families lose any disposable income they had…which will result in less tax revenue for GovGuam continuing the downward slide,†stated Rector. Read President Rector’s full article response in the Marianas Variety