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Workers picket to press wage payment
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Posted on Dec 16 1998
Eight Chinese workers yesterday picketed in front of the Administration Building to dramatize their plight for non-payment of wages by their employer on Tinian.
The workers, mostly farmers from mainland China, waved a banner protesting the non-payment of their wages since February by Hong Xiang Corporation, a construction company based on the island municipality.
Labor and Immigration Secretary Mark D. Zachares spoke to the workers through an interpreter and assured them that an arrest warrant has been issued against their employer to prevent him from leaving CNMI and that a labor hearing has been set in January.
Twenty of their co-workers have filed similar complaints in the department.
The same group had an audience with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio the other day to air their complaints and ask for other employment.
The Chinese workers refused to leave the Administration Building in fear that they would be harmed by their employer if they return to Tinian. One of them said that a co-worker was beaten up by their employer after complaining about their working conditions.
Zachares had arranged a ferry ride that would take the workers back to Tinian, but they turned it down.
“I think we’ve done as much as we can do,” Zachares said, “They need to go back to their employer because he’s been housing them and feeding them.”
The Chinese workers remained seated in front of the main door of the Administration Building even after office hours.
