Bankruptcy

Chinese Workers Demand Wages for Work on Island

By J. Michael McBride

Question: What do an idyllic Caribbean island, an unfinished Ritz Carlton, the largest bankruptcy ever filed and Chinese workers for an Israeli builder have in common? On Thursday, October 16, 2008 a nasty brawl broke out on an otherwise peaceful Atlantic island. A Ritz-Carlton luxury resort in the Turks and Caicos, capitalized by the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, was being built and worked on by more than four hundred Chinese. The contractor, a subsidiary of Ashtrom Group Ltd.., based in Israel, were “put under siege” that Thursday. Since the workers are not receiving payment as result of the financial catastrophe that has spread globally they held about a dozen contractors hostage and demanded their wages. “Because of the financial crisis, the Chinese have not been paid by the Chinese company so they are holding us hostage. There is no police or government; nobody is protecting us,” said Motti Bachar, one of the contractors.

In America we seem so far away from any real distress or immediate consequences from this current financial meltdown. The fact of this matter is that everything we have seen happen as a result of the money disaster across the world is originating on our very doorstep. Is it the government’s responsibility to pick up the strings and put on another puppet show? If so, how much faith should we put in our government addressing the situation we are in?

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/turks/turks.php?news_id=11547&start=0&category_id=37

Thanks,
Angela

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).