By Adrian Frater

Copyright jamaica-gleaner

Western Bureau:

In a surprise move, Chinese workers on the new Western Child and Adolescent Hospital project in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday withdrew their services, claiming payment concerns, which they highlighted via placards before returning to their living quarters.

According to eyewitness accounts, the Chinese workers, as is customary, showed up at the facility shortly after 7 a.m., but instead of commencing work, they were observed mounting a placard, which was written in English with bold letters stating, ‘Need Money No Money No Work’, before leaving the site.

When The Gleaner visited the Mt Salem residence, where the Chinese workers reside and which is in proximity to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where a new facility is being constructed, some of the workers were observed doing domestic chores on the outside, including washing clothes and hanging them out to dry.

While the Chinese seemed quite cordial, even smiling back at The Gleaner team, efforts to get to speak about their concerns proved futile, as they kept their distance and refused to answer the questions that were shouted out to them. Efforts to contact Joseph Lewis, the project manager on the hospital, were also unsuccessful as calls to his telephone number went unanswered.

When St Andrade Sinclair, the regional director at the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), was contacted, he told The Gleaner that he was away in Kingston, but had heard about what had taken place.

“As far as I am concerned, and what I do know, I am in Kingston, and I got a call to say the Chinese are demonstrating in front of the Western Child and Adolescent Hospital. As to the nature of why they are demonstrating, I do not know, but I saw images of placards that said, ‘No money, no work’. That is all I know,” said Sinclair.

“As you know, we are the beneficiary of the Western Child and Adolescent Hospital. I do not have much to say in terms of the Chinese labourers. We have labourers there as well, but our labourers are not in the demonstration,” he added.

UNSURE OF cause

Like Sinclair, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton could not provide any definitive information about the protest. However, he stated that the project, which is a gift from the government of China, was being manage by the Chinese government and not the Jamaican Government.

“I have asked the project manager, or the project management team, which is the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), through the permanent secretary, to give me a report on the matter,” said Tufton. “It is important to note that the relationship between the Chinese workers, or the workers on the building, and the contractor are one between them and the Chinese government because Western Child is a gift from the Chinese government, and the contractor was selected in China and that is where the contractual relations resides.”

According to Tufton, the Jamaican Government has nothing to do with the working arrangement of the Chinese workers, which would include payment arrangements.

The Jamaican workers on the site were seemingly bemused by the protest action taking by the Chinese workers, who are usually all about working and staying away from other issues.

“It look like dem learn from we seh, when de boss dem a hold on pon de money and nuh waa pay, hands haffi drop until money run,” one of the Jamaican workers told The Gleaner. “Me nuh know if dem could try dat a China, but yu know dis a Jamaica, so no problem.”

The hospital, which is slated to be completed this year, is being constructed at a cost of J$800 million. On completion, it will be a 220-bed, state-of-the-art paediatric facility, which is expected to be the foremost hospital of its type in the Caribbean.

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