About 100 construction workers took to the streets yesterday to demand stricter controls on the industry's subcontracting system.
The workers' anger was fuelled by a rise in cases of subcontractors defaulting on wages, often for work on government-funded projects, with recent disputes turning violent.
On July 19, a clash broke out at a Yau Tong public housing work site between police and 40 decorators demanding what they claimed was $10 million in unpaid wages from their subcontractor employer.
Three days earlier, 50 workers stormed the Western head office of China Rich Holdings Ltd, demanding payments of wages and fees allegedly totalling more than $70 million for two public drainage projects in Shamshuipo and Yuen Long.
Last week, the government introduced measures aimed at ensuring construction workers are paid on time, including more on-site inspections and a reporting system under which workers raise an early alarm over unpaid wages.
But many workers remain unconvinced by the new measures, introduced after a meeting between labour officials, employer associations and union representatives.
