CONTRACTORS are to rehire 70 imported workers, including two strike leaders, sacked after they won a wage dispute.
Immigration officials yesterday said they would raise the case with the Labour Department in an effort to stop other employers taking similar action.
The workers were among 157 on the West Kowloon Expressway who last month received a total of $17 million in back pay from contractors after lodging complaints of unauthorised wage deductions and going on strike.
The Immigration Department had received two letters from the contractors - Fender Construction, Wing Kee, Hop Sing and Albert Tse - one sacking the workers and the second deferring the redundancies to the middle of the month.
But following a meeting with the Federation of Trade Unions, the contractors said yesterday they would write to the department again, telling them the workers were back on staff.
Senior secretary of the federation, Ip Wai-ming, said: 'The employers sacked the workers in retaliation. They changed their minds again because they are facing public pressure.' Workers Huang Chunsheng, Su Jingui and Lin Mingqun were among 15 mainland workers detained by Immigration officers after trying to return from Macau on Sunday.