{"id":1740,"date":"2009-10-14T02:15:53","date_gmt":"2009-10-14T06:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=1740"},"modified":"2009-10-14T17:46:28","modified_gmt":"2009-10-14T21:46:28","slug":"%e2%80%98chinese-work-like-slaves%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=1740","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Chinese work like slaves\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richardson Dhalai
\nOctober 14, 2009 – newsday.co.tt<\/a>
\nwww.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Chinese labourers<\/a>The camp at Chatee Trace, Cunupia where Chinese labourers of Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation is tucked away on a lonely stretch of road.<\/p>\n

The living quarters are shielded by sheets of galvanise which line the length of the compound.
\n
\nWhile, more than 70 of them were detained in Port-of-Spain for protesting for their pay, about 100 stayed behind the camp which stank of stale urine.<\/p>\n

They kept themselves hidden away and the few who crawled out of the unplastered concrete structures waved their hands to sign they did not speak English. The compound is divided into two with one section used as a materials stockpile.<\/p>\n

In the other area, small brick housing units are lined in the shape of an open ended rectangle. Laundry hung limply from lines stretching along the length of the barrack-type compound.<\/p>\n

One worker who spoke in broken English and seemed afraid kept denying they were being mistreated or underpaid by the company.<\/p>\n

A green vehicle drove into the camp then abruptly spun around and exited the compound.<\/p>\n

The gate was soon closed after the Newsday news team left the camp. Residents who live near the camp estimate 300 Chinese labourers stay there. The labourers are mostly peaceful and keep to themselves, they said.<\/p>\n

One resident said the labourers work hard \u201clike slaves\u201d, leaving the camp very early on mornings and returning late on evenings.<\/p>\n

At times, he sees them fishing in drains which line nearby ochro and dasheen bush fields.<\/p>\n

Sometimes they walk to the small parlours which dot the main road.<\/p>\n

The labourers, the resident said, have been seen defecating in the fields and at times the yelps of dogs are heard coming from the camp. <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.newsday.co.tt\/news\/0,109107.html<\/p>\n

Related News:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinese workers in highway protest<\/a> <\/p>\n

…Protest leads to rush-hour gridlock<\/a><\/p>\n

Chinese construction workers want out<\/a>
\nThey haven’t been paid in months, they were seen eating “dry bread”, cannot speak a word of English and would rather return to the crowded streets of Fujian Province than stay to work as labourers in Trinidad.<\/p>\n

…Construction company denies owing money<\/a><\/p>\n

‘Return Blood Money’<\/a>
\nPolice arrested more than 70 Chinese labourers outside the Chinese Embassy in Port-of-Spain last night, only to return them to their squalid camp at Chatee Trace, Cunupia where they began their harrowing day in an uprising over wages owed to them by their employers Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation Ltd.<\/p>\n

Trinidad and Tobago News Blog’s URL for this article:
\nwww.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=1740<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Richardson Dhalai October 14, 2009 – newsday.co.tt www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog The camp at Chatee Trace, Cunupia where Chinese labourers of Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation is tucked away on a lonely stretch of road. The living quarters are shielded by sheets of galvanise which line the length of the compound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1,5,7,26],"tags":[85,1044,1015,49,1020],"class_list":["post-1740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-complaints","category-general-tt","category-international","category-politics","category-udecott","tag-abuse","tag-chinese","tag-politics","tag-tt-govt","tag-udecott"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1743,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions\/1743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}