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Workers with their "On strike!" signs press for changes to regulations imposed on them by their employer on Monday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Angry tunnel workers walk off Kwai Chung job after being told to eat lunch underground

More than 200 workers went on strike at the express railway construction site in Kwai Chung yesterday after they were told to eat their lunch underground and warned their pay would be docked if they were late.

But last night the union said a consensus had been reached with their employer, Leighton Contractors (Asia), and that the company had retracted the new policy. Leighton could not be reached for comment. Some workers said they were unaware of any deal and were prepared to continue striking tomorrow.

Our supervisors used to be more lenient if we turned up a bit late … Now, the bosses are keeping track of every cent
Electrical worker Dragon Wong

Construction Site Workers General Union organiser Mak Tak-ching said a deal had been struck but talks on working hours would continue. The workers say they were told yesterday morning of new rules that they must spend all day in the tunnel they were building and would be penalised if they were late. They say conditions were already harsh.

"I was so angry when I saw the notice," said pipe worker Lai Kam-fook, 60. Electrical worker Dragon Wong, 40, said their work day was recently extended to 12 hours as they rushed to finish the project. "Our supervisors used to be more lenient if we turned up a bit late … Now, the bosses are keeping track of every cent."

According to a notice at the site yesterday, staff who are five minutes late to work would lose 30 minutes' pay - HK$50 for a worker who earns HK$1,200 a day. Workers who are 15 minutes late would lose an hour's pay.

Work on the Cheong Wing Road site began in 2010, when the HK$3.2 billion contract was awarded to Leighton by the MTR Corporation. It is part of the high-speed railway that will link West Kowloon and Shenzhen. The MTR has maintained that the project is on track for completion by 2015. Yet in three years, just 41 per cent of it has been built.

MTR projects director Chew Tai-chong said the MTR had asked Leighton to resolve the matter quickly. Workers say the air in the tunnel is poor and the temperature as high as 40 degrees Celsius. "The air is 10 times worse than the smog in Beijing," Wong said. "If we have our lunch down there, we'll be eating dust."

A Labour Department spokeswoman said the penalties for being late were illegal and anyone imposing them could face a fine of up to HK$100,000 or one year in jail.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Angry tunnel workers walk off the job
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