Chamorro, Guam Braces for More Layoffs

The folks in Chamorro, Guam is getting ready for s round of layoffs. In a proposal to the Department of Chamorro Affairs made by The President of Chamorro Affairs there are some civil service layoffs in the works that will have an impact on government functions. This is the second round of proposed layoffs that are designed to help balance the budget of the nation and keep things from going into the red by reducing the number of staffers on the payroll.

While the plan, which will be implemented by the Human Resources Administrator of the Department of Administration, does not have a specific date listed for when the workers will be let go from their positions. The official statement was released to the people as part o f their advisory program. The overall lay offs are part of a plan to reduce the overall expenditures of the government and fix the structural imbalance of the General Fund. While there is not data released about the specific numbers, we do not know how much in dollars the jobs lost will save, or how many dollars each position was worth.

There was some very specific data given about the types of positions that are going to be cut. The list of jobs that are as follows:

Secretary I (A typist level) (one position)
Clerk Typist II (one position)
Administrative Officer (one position)
Administrative Aide (one position)
Library Technician I (seven positions)
Library Technician II (one position)
Laborer (one position)
Building Custodian (two positions)

As you can see the total number of jobs that are to be cut include only 15 individual positions. While that may not seem like a lot when you compare it to the possible 3500 job cuts that are expected to be made in the state of New York this week, but proportionally this is a fair number of employees for Chamorro.

In the name of fairness the submission of this plan means that all jobs of the same type have had a hiring freeze applied to them. This means that Chamorro will not be hiring on any new staff into those jobs this year. While this does prevent the jobs from being emptied only to be refilled and remove the appearance of political firings, it also removed the chance to rehire some of the staffers should the budget change and the monies for the positions become available again.

The President of Chamorro Affairs has no say in who will be laid off and who will keep their jobs, or even that the employees in these positions will be the ones to go during the layoffs. Once the recommendation is approved there will be a process of figuring out who exactly will be let go and who will get the boot. As with many civil servants those who have more sonority will be able to bump junior members of the staff. Those who are laid off will also have the right to some displacement benefits from their government. Those benefits may include the ability to furlough their salaries in whole or in part. We do know that part time and seasonal employees will be first on the block to be laid off.