Sako workers: We want to go home

Eleven displaced garment workers held a day-long rally outside the Governor’s Office Friday to press the government to help them be repatriated immediately to their country.

“We want to go home to China. We don’t want to stay here any longer if we don’t have work,” said 30-year-old Wang Xiu Li in an interview.

The group used to work for Sako Corp., which closed down weeks ago.

Wang, who can communicate in basic English, said they decided to go to the Governor’s Office because the Department of Labor as well as the Division of Immigration could not help them.

“We went to the Immigration but we’re told there’s nothing for us,” she said.

She said they could no longer contact their employer, Sako Corp.

“It’s already closed. There’s no more Sako so it’s very difficult for us. We need to go home,” she said.

She said a member of the group needs to be in China as soon as possible due to a family emergency.

“We have no ticket. How can we go back? We are told the government should help us so we are here,” said Wu Ying.

The displaced workers complained of being shoved away from the Governor’s Office lobby. They said a staff demanded that they go out of the building.

Wang said police were called in to bring them out. “They [police] pushed us. They held our hands very tight. It hurts,” she said.

Jin Xiu Juan said they went inside the first floor—near the reception area—of the two-floor Governor’s Office. “Police came and told us to go out,” she said.

They settled themselves in the area just outside the main entrance of the building. The group said they arrived at the area at about 9am and did not leave until about 430pm. Wang said they did not eat lunch that day.

She said they had wanted to meet with the governor and the attorney general to get assurance of their repatriation and other benefits that they remain entitled to. Both officials were not available to see them.

Other officials, however, went out and spoke with the group. Governor’s senior policy adviser Bob Schwalbach met and talked with them in the morning. Press secretary Peter A. Callaghan said he knows that deputy attorney general Clyde Lemons Jr. had also met with the group.

Callaghan said the AGO is working closely with DOL to expedite the workers’ repatriation.

“They want to go back home. The AGO is making sure that all cases are handled in a more expeditious manner,” said Callaghan.

He said this process may take time because it involves looking at the displaced workers’ cases, their wages, their potential transfer to other employers, and their repatriation.

There are over 1,000 estimated displaced workers on the island following the closure of three factories and downsizing of others in view of the worldwide lifting of trade quotas last January. Under the law, the last employer is required to repatriate the workers. If the employer cannot afford to do so, the employer’s bonding company would shoulder the cost.