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Workers stranded in Singapore
( 2002-09-06 10:31 ) (1 )

Over 170 Chinese workers in Singapore are stranded after their construction company boss left the country with their money, the Singapore-based Straits Times reported Thusday.

Guo Hancheng, director of Sinzhou Engineering, fled with 840,000 Singapore dollars (US$483,680) that was due workers, the report said.

Guo, 51, is also from China and reportedly withdrew 560,000 Singapore dollars (US$323,100) from the company account before he caught a plane out of the island state. Another 280,000 Singapore dollars (US$160,580) was withdrawn from the same account on August 27. He did not give a reason for the withdrawls, said Zhang Xusheng, one of Guo's partners, the newspaper reported.

Zhang said he did not ask why because Guo is the majority shareholder of the company, holding 80 per cent of the shares.

The disgruntled workers went to company headquarters in Sembawang in Singapore to ask for their money claiming that they had not been paid for the past two months.

The workers said each of them paid 5,000 Singapore dollars into an account held by the company as a security deposit if they ever fled work, the report said.

Local police are investigating the case following worker complaints lodged against the boss.

The Ministry of Manpower in Singapore has also stepped in to mediate the dispute between workers and their employers after 40 of them complained to the ministry last Saturday, according to the report.

A spokesman for the ministry, who was not identified, was quoted as saying that the main contractor of the company agreed to pay one month's salary to the workers.

Another conciliation meeting was expected to be held to assist the workers, according to the spokesman.

In recent years, more and more Chinese are looking to work overseas. Statistics show that Singapore has the largest number of Chinese workers. And just as workers overseas have increased, so too have wage disputes.

In order to protect the rights of the workers working overseas, an organization has been set up to offer assistance by the China International Contractors Association. The institution carries out investigations to safeguard the rights of workers in overseas countries after receiving their complaints.

The hotline for consultation and complaints is 010-64216661 ext 1419.