Immigrants hit by job cutbacks

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Organizers of a program designed to find work for new immigrants are scrambling to adjust after most of the 180 immigrants who found work through the program this year either lost their jobs or saw their hours dramatically cut back after Sept. 11.

Evelyn Mabuti has faced a loss of hours and medical and dental coverage at Sizzler since the terrorist attacks. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

But most of the last group of immigrants lost work after Sept. 11, when the terrorist attacks rocked Hawai'i's economy. Officials with the program are wondering what hope they can offer the next group, which should be even bigger.

"That's a problem," said Dominic Inocelda, senior program administrator for the Susannah Wesley Community Center, the lead agency along with Catholic Charities, Child & Family Service and the Pacific Gateway Center. "We'll have to focus our training on whatever the job market is."

Some jobs are opening up for security guards and nurse aides, Inocelda said, but they tend to require higher levels of education and English, which most recent immigrants lack.

The next round of federal financing should be announced any day and is expected to go up from $800,000 to $1.1 million to help more people find mostly minimum-wage jobs.

The program has trained about 300 immigrants each year. Next year, it's expected to see an increase to about 350.

At the same time, work has dried up in the tourism industry that traditionally serves immigrant workers, Inocelda said.

Moritz Reiher's monthly take-home pay isn't enough to cover food, rent and expenses. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Innovative Employment and Training Program was financed at the urging of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye (D-Hawai'i) and is geared for a group of people "who have considerable difficulties when they go to mainstream job training," said Kim Winegar, program director for Catholic Charities.

The cuts hit recent immigrants such as 63-year-old Moritz Reiher, who came to Hawai'i a year ago from the Marshall Islands. He could have retired in a four-bedroom house back home, but the food and education weren't good enough for his two granddaughters.

Reiher brought his wife, son and grandchildren to Hawai'i, swearing he wouldn't go on public assistance. Reiher instead went through the Innovative Employment and Training Program in July and eventually found full-time work delivering flowers and lei to vendors at Honolulu International Airport for $7 an hour.

After the terror attacks, Reiher's hours were cut to three, seven-hour shifts a week, just enough to earn him medical benefits. His $300 take-home pay isn't enough to cover food, expenses and the $800 monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Makiki.

He can't even afford telephone service. And he certainly cannot pay tuition at Honolulu Community College for his 21-year-old son, who also cannot find work.

"I'm scared about Christmas," he said. "It's not going to be a happy Christmas. ... I'm not blaming the state of Hawai'i or my employer. They are not the ones that are causing this problem."

Reiher may be just a little better off than Evelyn Mabuti, a 56-year-old immigrant from Illocos Norte in the Philippines who waited 15 years to come to the United States.

Mabuti, her husband and four children arrived in September 2000. She completed the job-training program and found work at a Sizzler restaurant tending the salad bar.

The job paid $5.25 an hour, offered full-time hours and perhaps, more importantly, gave Mabuti and her family medical coverage.

Since Sept. 11, Mabuti's hours have been cut in half, costing her medical and dental benefits. The state now covers healthcare for her younger children, but not for Mabuti and her husband.

She has high blood pressure but hasn't seen a doctor since she arrived in Hawai'i.

"It hasn't been easy," Mabuti said. "The last few weeks, my blood pressure is going up and down, up and down. I don't know what I'm going to do."

Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085, or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com