Hagåtña, Guam – The Office of the Governor of Guam issues the following statement regarding Republican senators ongoing effort to delay or deny the implementation of the new General Pay Plan:
“Thousands of rank and file employees covered by the General Pay Plan won’t get a raise next month thanks to Republican senators led by Chris Duenas. The truth is certain Republican senators like Chris Duenas have opposed this measure from the start, even after supporting pay raises for themselves in 2014 under my Republican predecessor.
While Republican senators call for more maintenance in our public schools, they remain unwilling to pay what it takes to hire and retain the skilled workers needed to keep schools safe—even when DOE leadership says that is exactly what they need.
Though Senator Duenas could have read the detailed committee report to answer most of the questions he raised at today’s Committee on Rules meeting, he asserted technical concerns about the procedure, which were later determined wrong by the Chairman.
Yes, we can afford these raises.
This bill deserves its day on the floor.
And public employees deserve to know how Chris Duenas can ask for their vote in November, but ghost them in March.
We thank the Democratic caucus for its support. And we are working to secure the measure’s future passage at the earliest possible date.”