By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

ABOUT a hundred Top Fashion Corp. workers again marched peacefully yesterday from their Tanapag barracks to the parking lot of the Horiguchi Building in Garapan where they asked for the support of local and federal authorities in getting reimbursements for the thousands of dollars in recruitment fees they paid for jobs on Saipan.
Yesterday marked the end of the first week since Top Fashion management formally notified the workers that the factory would be shutting down on July 2.
Federal Labor Ombudsman Jim Benedetto and CNMI Department of Labor officials have cautioned the workers against paying anybody to get a transfer job to remain in the CNMI, and also warned employers against taking advantage of the workers’ situation by offering them jobs in exchange for money.
About 70 of the estimated 500 resident and nonresident workers arrived on Saipan only three to six months ago after paying $3,000 to $4,000 in recruitment fees in China to get a job at Top Fashion.
“We want U.S. Labor to tell the factory and recruiters to pay back our money,” one of them said through the help of a man who told Variety in English that when he saw the workers converging in Garapan, he stopped by to talk with and help his fellow Chinese workers.
The workers stayed in Garapan from morning until after noon, while police patrol cars monitored the area. No untoward incident was reported.
According to the workers, nobody from the offices at the Horiguchi Building talked to them. They said they may march again peacefully today until Top Fashion resumes operations.
“We paid a lot of money in China. But we haven’t even finished our one-year contract yet and the factory is closing. We want our money back,” said one worker through an interpreter.