CLOSE to 40 construction workers from Turkey and Italy on Friday morning staged a protest outside the Imperial Pacific International human resources office in Sadog Tasi, demanding their salaries.
Asked for comment, IPI Chief Executive Officer Donald Browne said:
“We are sympathetic to the workers’ concerns and understand their frustration. Unfortunately, the historic pandemic has had a much more dramatic negative affect on our ability to sustain operations than anticipated. The construction workers are important to us, as are all employees. We are diligently working to secure financing to address the payment concerns of all employees. We will continue to attempt to acquire funding until such time as our casino is allowed to open and we have the ability to generate cash flow for operations and for construction labor.”
Through a translator, one of the construction workers, Hasan Gokce, told Variety that they came in peace and had no intention of making any trouble. He said they just wanted answers from IPI about their unpaid salaries.
Turkish and Italian construction workers stage a protest outside the Imperial Pacific International human resources office at the Flame Tree Homes in Sadog Tasi on Friday.
The protesters included 28 Turkish workers and 10 Italian workers.
Gokce, along with Ozcan Genc and Suleyman Kos, recently filed a formal complaint against IPI for not paying them for several pay periods. They have also sued the casino operator for not paying them the minimum wage and overtime pay.
Gokce said some of them have not been paid salaries for five pay periods, some for six pay periods, and two of them have not been paid for 13 pay periods.
He said they are able to survive through the help of the local community on Saipan. He added that they are very grateful to the community groups on island that are providing them with food.
Two police officers arrived at the scene and told the protesters that IPI employees were accusing them, the protesting workers, of making threats. The officers told the protesters to refrain from chanting threatening words or shouting at the employees of IPI.
But Gokce said none of them had threatened anyone.
“We came over here seeking answers. We just want to talk to them. But they have locked the doors. They did not want to talk to us. Now they called the cops and they complain that we were threatening them,” Gokce said.
“We never threatened them. We know that those people inside the office are also employees like us. They are not the ones responsible. We came here just to talk to a person who is responsible so we can express our problem,” he said, adding that IPI “has been doing this for a long time now.”
He added, “They just shut the door and refused to talk to us, and that is why this is the situation.”
Variety was unable to get a comment from IPI.
The rest of the Turkish workers issued the following statement:
“We have not been able to get a paycheck for about 70 days.
“Although we made an advance request, no advance payment was made. We cannot send money to our families and we have no money left to meet our needs here.
“We are having very troubled days now. We are trying to hold on to life with the help of supplies by few helpers.
“We cannot leave the camp because we have no money left.
“According to the agreement we made, our meals had to be prepared in Turkish style but they are trying to get you to eat Chinese food now. They have been giving us daily chicken for lunch and dinner for two months.
“When we brought our complaint about the meals with two foremen friends, Mr. Su prohibited the two foremen from entering the cafeteria….
“This is a dictatorship and Mr. Su and his team impose all kinds of pressure and sanctions on us Turkish workers, especially because we are suing them, as the conditions stipulated in our contract were not fulfilled by IPI.
“They kind of treat us like we are in prison right now.
“Since Turkish company IDS left the island in November, they let us pay the expenses which were covered by IDS.
“Although these costs have to be covered by IDS and IPI as per our contract, and as we have brought these issues to our meetings with IPI over and over again, they did not offer any solutions and they are still covered by us (expenses are vehicle rental, vehicle fuel, internet at the barracks).
“We see that Turkish company IDS acts as a single company together with Mr. Su and they apply their common decisions against us.
“We hear that IDS with Ms. Su is planning again to bring cheap labor from Turkey to continue the construction of the hotel
“Whatever we have requested from IPI until today, none of them has been met by Mr. Su and his team.
“As far as we have seen and observed for 11 months, Mr. Su and his team are the main actors of the IPI company coming to this point and not being managed correctly.
“Mr. Su bought a hotel here and takes care of it. He does not care about IPI….
“Mr. Su is responsible for the reason we are taking a 16 article legal action against Turkish company IDS and IPI.”
