Labour Minister Rennie Dumas is today scheduled to make a decision on the allegations of some 85 Chinese workers that their employer, the Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation, has not been honouring its contract with them.

Dumas told the Express yesterday that he expects to receive a report on the matter from the Labour Inspectorate, the Conciliation Department and the Factory Inspectorate, but noted that any action to be taken by the State in this matter would depend on the details of the contracts the Chinese workers have with their employer. Asked when he expected to receive a report on the matter, Dumas said he expected it today. He said based on the report, he will determine whether any intervention by the Government would be necessary or required at all.

’You see the critical issue is-what is the contract? Is there any part of the contract that requires (a) public authority to act as enforcer, because there are a number of contracts that do not require public authorities to act as enforcers,’ Dumas said.

He said that Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory to several international labour conventions, including some that treat with the issue of migrant labour.

’You may have a contract as an individual, you have a contract as a group... a major bargaining unit or come under the minimum wages. Now migrant labour generally falls under the top two classes. People come in and either go along with a bargaining unit or they have contracts. These people are claiming that they have a contract which is being violated by their employer,’ Dumas said.

The Chinese workers protested their alleged mistreatment by Beijing Liujian. One of them claimed they were each owed 30,000 yuan (TT$22,000) for two months of work, while others said they wanted to return home. Beijing Liujian has maintained it does not owe the workers any money and is assisting in organising their plane tickets to return home.