One major subcontractor has pulled out leaving dozens of local and imported employees without jobs, as more reports swirl of...

Unrest At The Ritz Site

Construction workers recently terminated from TCC 
(Cayman) JV Ltd, including Mexican national Aurelio 
Pineba (centre) who claims he broke his arm on the job, 
gather in a vacant parking lot across from the Strand to 
collect their final pay cheques

Monday, December 1, 2003

TCC (Cayman) JV Ltd, a subcontractor hired by Fluor Daniel Caribbean Inc for the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, pulled out of the job site on 21 November, leaving local and overseas employees without jobs.

Hired to provide drywall and metal framing services at the Ritz, TCC is a joint venture between K Coast of Grand Cayman and TC Contractors out of Georgia in the United States.

The joint venture company says it pulled out because of money issues. "TCC (Cayman) JV Ltd determined the contract with Fluor Daniel Caribbean Inc due to monetary irregularities and left the Ritz-Carlton site," confirmed a director of the company, Gilles Langlois.

According to TCC construction workers, they had no advance notice of the loss of their jobs. "They came and told us to pack up our tools two weeks ago on a Monday morning and told us to come back the next day," said former TCC employee Elvis Bush. "We worked Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday they told us to pack up again."

TCC had local employees, as well as workers from Honduras and the United States on their payroll. Many of the foreign workers had come to Cayman with the understanding that they would be here from one to one-and-a-half years, but some were here as little as two months, and now are being told they must leave. 

In the confusion after the pull-out, many of the employees alleged they had not received all of their pay, but on Friday of last week, TCC administration personnel met with former workers in a vacant parking lot across from the Strand and distributed payroll cheques. 

Employment Relations Department Senior Compliance Officer Gene Hydes was reportedly present during the process.

According to Omar Banegas, a spokesman for the construction workers, Mr Hydes confirmed their contention that many of them were owed back overtime pay. Efforts to contact Mr Hydes to confirm this report were unsuccessful.

With some concern that the workers might get unruly, three Royal Cayman Island Police units were present to keep the calm. There were no unruly incidents during the process of distributing cheques, and the TCC administrators answered questions the workers had.

"We regret that we had to terminate the contract with these 157 employees," said Mr Langlois, "We are committed to seeing all of our employees, both local and overseas, receive all the payments due to them according to the Labour Law."

Mr Langlois explained that some 50 to 60 of TCC's employees were Caymanians or legal residents. "We hope that Fluor Daniels or the new contractor give the locals first chance at the remainder of the work on the Ritz project," he said. 

Many of TCC's employees expressed scepticism about the Ritz job site, however, and voiced a variety of complaints about the working conditions there. "They're exploiting the local worker," said Caymanian construction worker Patrick Bodden, "It's a pity the whole job didn't shut down."

"All the workers are frustrated," said Elvis Bush.

Employees interviewed for this report related stories of men being hurt on the job, including two incidents, one involving two severed fingers and another a broken arm. "The safe working record is a joke," said Mr Bush.

When contacted about TCC and the reported injuries on the job, Fluor Daniels did not respond to questions submitted on the matters.

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