By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
MORE than 50 Chinese construction workers from Baha Mar protested outside the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday afternoon, claiming they have not been paid in six months and that they had been threatened when they complained.
The workers, employed with the China Construction America company, walked from the Baha Mar resort in Cable Beach along Bay Street to the embassy at the Montagu end of Shirley Street. Police were called and the workers were corralled in a car park across the road from the embassy compound by several officers while two patrol cars blocked the entrance.
They were there for more than two hours before they were bussed back to the resort.
During their protest, Labour Director Robert Farquharson arrived to assure them that his job demands he be concerned about the labour conditions of all workers in the Bahamas. He is due to report to the Labour Minister, Shane Gibson, on the protest today.
While a senior representative of China Construction America declined to comment on the matter yesterday, saying that the company does not grant interviews as a matter of policy, the Chinese Embassy did issue a statement.
It said: “On 9th July 2014, about 40 Chinese workers came to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, seeking the Embassy’s help to resolve their disputes with their employer.
“Officials of the Embassy arrived in the first scene to meet with the workers and conduct inquiries.
“The Embassy officials had been mediating between the Chinese workers and their employer, while both parties were required to resolve their dispute through negotiaion in accordance with law and their contracts.
“The Embassy requests both Chinese companies and workers to abide by the laws. We trust that the legitimate rights and interests of both parties will be protected.”
Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of external affairs, said: “Baha Mar is committed to the fair and equitable treatment of all workers associated with the project. The workers in question are employees of China State Construction, we are supporting China State Construction in their investigation into (the) concerns raised by their workers.”
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 9 months ago
This matter has grave implications for the position of the Bahamas on human rights abuses. Last thing we need is a U.S. Dept of State report stating that the Bahamas is complicit by its inaction in allowing a foreign investor to benefit from the use of slave labour. And we don't want a crummy explanation from the foreign investor's overpaid Bahamian lackey (Robert "Sandy" Sands) when Sarkis himself should be man enough to step up to the plate and tell all Bahamians what he plans to do to prevent a recurrence of this most unfortunate incident.
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