Source:
APERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Foreign Ministry says a group of Israeli contractors are trapped on a Caribbean island due to a labor dispute with hundreds of Chinese construction workers.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy says the construction workers have put the island of West Caicos «under siege» because they haven't been paid. He says it's not clear how many Israelis are trapped, and Israeli diplomats are dealing with the incident.
Construction teams have been developing a new tourist resort on the secluded island. According to Israeli reports, work recently was halted because of financing problems connected to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Read more:
http://www.pr-inside.com/israeli-contractors-trapped-on-caribbean-island-r864831.htm
A much better article
(goes without saying that just about any article is better than AP sludge these days)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-11469--6-6--.htmlPROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands: Approximately 250 Chinese contract workers have locked down West Caicos where an upscale resort is being built.
Originally, 400 Chinese workers were reported employed there but, when work stopped on the resort approximately 2 to 3 weeks ago, about 150 were reassigned to other islands to assist with hurricane repair work. The remaining workers were instructed to leave and return to Providenciales but they refused.
The basis for their protest is that they have not received their wages since June and they have no living facilities other than those on West Caicos.
Reports are that they refuse to leave and allow anyone else to leave or land on the island. There have been further reports of threats by the workers to burn the new resort villas one by one until they are paid and provided with a return ticket to China or other work with acceptable living facilities. Further reports are that the contractor's management employees are being detained in one of the buildings.
The Chinese claim they have three-year workers’ contracts but the labour contracts are reportedly with the labour contractors and not with the building contractor Ashtrom, who is building the resort. It has been reported that phase one of the project is 85 percent complete.
Private security personnel attempted to land on Wednesday to insist the workers leave but reports are they were refused access to the landing dock. Caribbean Net News contacted local police officials, who stated they have not been called to the site as yet.
. . .
Other sources report that the Chinese workers had been imported by TCI labour contract firms with one way inbound tickets. These workers were sent to West Caicos to work on the construction of the resort and villas. Reports indicate they are living in reasonable living conditions in converted office trailers.
According to a story by Gemma Handy published October 3 in the TCI Weekly News, the upscale Ritz Carlton resort project on West Caicos recently came to a halt due to its financial backer, Lehman Brothers, declaring bankruptcy in the current US financial debacle.
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