STADIUM WORKERS PROTEST

CCECC mysteriously drops wages of labourers at KGVI Pacific Games stadium project

By EDDIE OSIFELO

LOCAL workers engaged by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for the Stadium Project staged a sit-in protest at King George Six Stadium yesterday morning.

This comes after CCECC published an article in the media recently that despite the undeniably harsh and inflation laden impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in all of CCECC’s works in the Solomon Islands, especially with the 2023 Pacific Games Project, CCECC undertook, in full compliance with its contractual obligations, to proceed with its ongoing projects in proactive manner, within and in full conformity with the Laws of the Solomon Islands.

The company said whether it be SI laws on Labour and Employment ensuring workers’ salary is paid in accordance with the current legislated minimum wage rates according to profession.

“We paid salary even more than the minimum allowed wage, with overtime pay for works done over the regular hours of work per day, and CCECC share to the workers’ contribution to the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund, plus food, transport, accommodation and other allowances paid very fortnight including personal or work protection equipment.”

However, one of the local workers said this is not true.

He said they found out their their minimum wages have dropped from $9 to $7 and $10 to $8.

“When we asked manager, Ben Wong, he did not want to explain to us,” the local worker said.

“We will continue to sit in protest until the company sort out our issues,” he added.

CCECC in Solomon Islands employs 500 local workers to work on the Stadium Project for the upcoming Pacific Games in Honiara, November.

The local workers range from technical, skilled, semi-skilled, to unskilled labourers and more on other ongoing projects.

According to CCECC, the current salary payout for the local workers every fortnight alone is almost SBD $1 million.

“This not limited to the fact that even during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2022, CCECC continued to employ local workers and provided accommodation with breakfast, lunch, and dinner to around 600-700 workers for the continuation and progress of the PG Stadium project,” CCEC said.

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