The Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation has denied owing protesting Chinese workers any money.

The company, which is responsible for contracting the workers to work in Trinidad and Tobago, said the workers were also not being held against their will.

Daisy Feng, the managing director’s assistant at Beijing Liujian, said the company was now helping the workers organise their tickets to go back home, although the particular contract for the work they are doing at Five Rivers does not expire until about January 16, 2010.

She said the company was prematurely terminating the contracts as the workers wanted to go back home.

She said all the company had for the workers were deposits, which they had made with the construction company to secure their work and which the company held to ensure workers stayed committed for the entire contracted period of time.

She could not say how much the deposit (which was now lost because the contract was prematurely terminated) was worth, or how many months’ salary this deposit amounted to.

Feng said the company had about 190 workers on that particular contract, and that the just over 80 protesting workers were not the majority.

When asked about their working conditions and how long the workers are made to work every day, she said she could not say, but maintained that the company was carrying out all its legal duties in keeping with the labour laws of Trinidad and Tobago.