The nomination of Valdemar A. Hill Jr. to lead the Office of Collective Bargaining sailed through the Senate’s Rules and Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday and moved on with a favorable recommendation to the full legislative body for a final vote.
Hill was nominated to the position last month, after the office’s former chief negotiator, Jessica Gallivan, was sworn in as one of the territory’s new magistrate judges.
The agency is tasked with representing the government at the collective bargaining table, helping the governor put together labor policies and collective bargaining strategies, and coordinating the government’s position in labor mediation, arbitration, civil and administrative cases.
Hill said Tuesday that his goal is to have Collective Bargaining run more efficiently by helping to tackle the agency’s backlog of cases, working with the governor to address the territory’s estimated $400 million retroactive wage debt and settling the 12 expired bargaining agreements that are being extended on a day-to-day basis.
The primary holdup in most collective bargaining situations is a lack of money, and right now — with the economy in a slump and the territory’s revenues falling short of projections — there is a stay on negotiations that are keeping contract talks from moving forward with various unions.
"For the contracts that are expired, my plan is to commence negotiations after the stay on negotiations has been lifted by the governor," Hill said Tuesday. "Meanwhile, I will conduct an in-depth review of the files and analysis of the conditions under which the contracts were negotiated, and an identification of the problems that were raised during such negotiation."
The first contracts to be negotiated after the lifting of the stay are those for the Seafarers International Union (Corrections officers), United Steelworkers Union (enforcement officers) and the Law Enforcement Supervisors Union, he said. What will be included in the contracts will depend on the government’s financial position, Hill added.
"Future negotiated contracts should never give rise to the creation of a ‘retroactive’ condition again," he said.
Meanwhile, efforts to reduce the agency’s current legal load and backlog should be bolstered by the addition of a second assistant attorney general, supplied by the Justice Department and assigned to the agency on a full-time basis. Collective Bargaining usually has two assistant attorneys general, but is currently functioning with only one, Hill said.
Senators praised Hill’s experience in the field, with some describing him as the "most qualified" chief negotiator to date. In a unanimous vote, Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Neville James, Usie R. Richards, Sammuel Sanes, Patrick Simeon Sprauve, Michael Thurland and Celestino A. White Sr. moved Hill’s nomination on to the full Senate body, which should take a final vote during this week’s legislative session, scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Present during Tuesday’s meeting were Dowe, James, Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone, Richards, Sanes, Sprauve, Thurland and White.
