The spectacle of over 80 Chinese workers protesting at the side of the Uriah Butler Highway on Tuesday has once again raised concerns about the conditions these men live under.

It was only last year that a dengue outbreak among 12 construction workers in Port of Spain brought to light the circumstances of these people. Members of that crew had been living in a building formerly used for office space, with each room occupied by four to five men. At the time, UDeCOTT head Calder Hart promised that the workers’ living conditions would be investigated and, unsurprisingly, that was the last anyone heard about that matter.

Now the people of Trinidad and Tobago have learned that a set of workers brought here on contract have apparently not been paid for two months, and wish to return to China. But their employer, the Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation, denies owing the workers any money.

If this is so, then it is passing strange that the workers should have taken such drastic action, especially when one considers that they come from a country where any form of public protest is quickly suppressed, even when the issue is poisoned baby formula or earthquake damage. Moreover, the company even admitted that, because the workers had ’terminated’ their contracts before the stipulated time, they would lose the deposits intended to keep them here.

Common sense suggests that the workers thus came to T&T with different expectations in respect of wages, accommodation, and work conditions than actually obtained. In this regard, it should be borne in mind that the Chinese workers would have much lower expectations than Trinidadian workers in terms of hours and compensation.

Now, a key question is what action the Government of T&T plans to take over the issue. After all, the Manning administration has boasted about the many benefits of having adopted the government-to-government approach in contracting Chinese firms to build all these signature buildings lining the road to Vision 2020.

But the T&T Government, unlike the Chinese government, has signed many international treaties guaranteeing human rights, including the rights of workers to fair pay and good working conditions. By accepting these workers to our shores, the Government has assumed a moral responsibility for them.

In this particular instance, the complaining workers will probably be shunted back to China and we will never know their fate. But many workers are still here, allegedly crowded into sub-standard accommodation and working without proper safety equipment on some sites. What is the Government doing to ensure that all workers in T&T, and not just T&T workers, are being treated according to the official labour standards our country supposedly upholds?

If no answer is forthcoming, that will be answer enough.