by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Operations at the Port Authority of Guam are the very lifeline to the island. Each day hundreds of staffers at the agency work to ensure goods make it in and out of the island ensuring that businesses have products to stock their shelves, restaurants have food to serve, and residents have what they need to survive. Port employees have been fighting to get their increments but evidently the hold up in getting the pay has been a result of some additional requests by management in its Fiscal Year 2013 budget.

Port employees made sure their message was not only heard but seen today. "The shipping industries making millions the businesses are making millions, why can't we get our increments?" asked equipment operator Dave Teixeira. He was among several dozen employees who sought answers at today's board meeting as to why they haven't received increments in the last two years. Several years ago the Port approved the Alan Searle Compensation Study that sought to bring certain critical positions at the Port closer to national averages, but after being brought up to the tenth percentile, the increments were frozen.

He said, "It's high time that the board understand that we have to meet our obligations to the people of Guam, and it would be nice if we could be compensated accordingly."

Stevedore leader Gilbert Santos echoed the sentiments asking the board when the employees would be getting their pay. "Another thing is the timeline because the holidays are approaching, are we going to see it within reason? Or are we looking at a year from now?", to which chairman Dan Tydongco replied, "We're working on it right now."

Tydingco added, "To make sure we have a responsible budget that we have enough financial resources available to pay those increments to pay your regular salaries and benefits, to pay the overtime, to pay the equipment and the fuel and everything else that's required for the operation of this port."

But the reason for the delay in paying the increments has been the lack of an approved FY2013 budget. The chairman says management provided the board with an ill-conceived budget, saying, "It came to us at the eleventh-hour almost before the end of the fiscal year and the board looked at it and said this is a very irrational and an unreasonable budget. They were making silly requests for iPads and items that are unneeded here for pay raises for management."

In fact, KUAM News has learned the Planning Division was asking for $45,000 for office supplies (included the iPads), and an additional $2.5 million in raises for some management and critical positions, not including the $1.6 million for the increments. Board members expressed concerns that the proposed budget also lacked the true costs for insuring the new cranes and Workman's Compensation and other items.

Port general manager Mary Torres told KUAM News the iPads were part of a wish list but they were nixed during the first round of cuts. Torres says now may not be the right time to purchase iPads, but she does support the planning division having them to do their work in the future. When asked what the justification was for the iPads, he stated, "There wasn't - nobody gave us a justification." Asked about how many iPads they were asking for, he said, "You know, I don't remember the number, but even one is too many for down here."

"Instead of iPads, the money should go toward the increments," he added. "We have a responsibility on the board that those public resources are spent properly, that there's proper revenue projections to cover all the costs and expenses that are going to be incurred for the day-to-day operation of this port."

Board members are working with management to develop a sound budget. A working session is scheduled for December 5 and if completed, the board could approve it during a meeting next month just in time for Christmas for Port employees.