SOME 239 mainland workers sacked from the $10 billion airport terminal project yesterday agreed to accept $5,000 each to end their dispute after spending a night in the street.
They had demanded $30,000 from the main contractor, BCJ Joint Venture, although they had been employed by a subcontractor.
The group yesterday dug in for the second day outside the Labour Department in Central as the dispute was thrashed out inside.
BCJ had offered a deal including statutory notice pay, holiday pay and a $500 travel allowance for them to return to China.
But workers said they had 'bought' their jobs, each paying about $30,000 to the sub-contractor, Success Civil and Foundation/ CITIC (Guohua) International Contracting Joint Venture.
In November, CITIC withdrew from the joint venture after severe financial problems and the subcontract with BCJ ended.