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TWO hundred Thai construction workers went on strike yesterday in an escalating wrangle over wages paid on airport-related contracts.

  The latest dispute flared on the Central reclamation site being built by joint venture company, Dragages-Penta Ocean-BSG, after workers alleged they were being paid less than was promised in their employment contracts.

  Workers said they were asked to sign a second contract in Hong Kong, which promised thousands of dollars less than the contracts they had seen at home.

  They said the company paid cash, around $9,000, into accounts held with the Hongkong Bank, which transferred the money to Thailand. However, they learned from receipts at their Thai banks that only about $5,000 was received each month.

  Present regulations allow employers to take 25 per cent from a worker's salary for accommodation and food expenses.

  The workers went on strike from 10 am, saying the company did not pay them overtime until they had worked 11 hours, although they were entitled to be paid extra after nine hours.

   Project director Bill Dousse said the row had been settled and the men would return to work today.

  Yesterday, 740 of the Kwai Chung workers filed documents with the Labour Department claiming millions of dollars in back pay which they claim has been deducted by employers, a joint venture company Campenon Bernard/Sogea/Franki.

  Assistant Commissioner for Labour Alfred Chan Wing-kit, in charge of the investigation on the site yesterday, said it was a criminal offence to have two sets of contracts.

  'In any case, it is an offence to provide false information to the Immigration Department and the department will take prosecution action against the employer,' he said.

  A contract obtained by the South China Morning Post yesterday was faxed to the Immigration Department for comment.

  A spokesman said it was a legal document, but gave an illegally low wage of $5,535. This is less than half the amount which should have been paid according to the Government's minimum pay rates for imported workers.

  The contract was signed between electrician Pichit Saengman and Franki Contractors Limited.

  Each page was stamped by the Thai employment department and a Thai firm, which supplied workers to Franki.

  The final page, agreeing to the working conditions, was signed by Mr Saengman, the former deputy chairman of Franki Contractors, John McNaught and witnessed by public notary Mabel Lee May-bo.

  The Labour Department yesterday sent a team of 10 officials to a temporary office at Kwai Chung to help the workers file their claims. Employers breaching the law face a fine of $100,000, one year's imprisonment and a ban from the labour importation scheme.

  The joint-venture employers denied allegations, saying: 'The joint venture has paid all workers strictly in accordance with their employment contracts.' 



More Thai workers complain of pay rip-off