China-based employer says it owes T&T workers nothing

The Beijing Liujing Construction Company (TT) Ltd has made it clear that it does not owe any money to Chinese workers in Trinidad and Tobago who have been staging protests and demanding that their employer has not paid them salaries of up to $22,000 each.

In a news release Friday the China-based company say the workers have been paid all their salaries. However it explained that the money theare are demanding is a performance deposit which the company has seized for breach of contract.

The workers themselves have asked to return home, the company said, adding that it is making arrangements for that at a cost of about $17,000 per person.

The protests began on Tuesday with the workers staging a protest on the Uriah Butler. They claimed that they had not been paid for two months and that their were living under poor conditions.

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The company said it had contracts signed in China in which the workers agreed to be in Trinidad for 18 months, but the disputed deposit fee is not part of the short-term project.

"In the case of the current dispute over the deposit fee, the company has been advised that the workers who have opted to terminate their contract after the minimum period of guaranteed employment, but before completion of the project, are in breach of contract and must therefore forfeit the right to this payment," the release said.

The company also pointed out that the pay was TT$24 an hour "which was attractive and highly competitive with what is paid in China".

On concerns about alleged shoddy living conditions, the company said: "The conditions we see being portrayed in the media are not recognisable to us as conditions provided for our employees."

The company said it is committed to "working towards an expeditious resolution of this matter".

The Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Labour said Friday its inspectors have discovered "hygiene issues" at the place in Chaguanas where many of the workers have been staying.

It said the inspectors were unable to take any action because the place was classified "residential", which is excluded from the Occupational Safety Health Act.

"Accordingly, since these quarters are removed from the work site, they do not fall within the OSH Act. In discussions with a company representative, moral suasion was used to have remedial measures taken with regard to the general hygiene at this domestic facility," the Labour Ministry said in a release.

It stated that the work place and health conditions at the Aranjuez and Five Rivers Junior Secondary project sites "were found to be satisfactory", with only minor irregularities at the latter site.