Former workers at Overseas Engineering & Construction Co. (OECC), the Taiwanese firm that the Vincentian government awarded a US$78 million contract to build a new hospital in Arnos Vale, say the company continues to import foreign workers even as hundreds of applications by Vincentians are “catching dust”.
The former workers expressed displeasure with the way they were dismissed from their posts, with some of them saying they had to seek the help of the Labour Department to get the money that OECC owed to them.
They told iWitness News that 48 locals and 75 expats are working on the hospital project, which is being financed by a US$120 million loan from Taiwan.
The former employees’ claim contrasts with the information that Fernando Viato, OECC’s project manager on the hospital project, gave to iWitness News in an interview in response to the former workers’ complaints.
Viato told iWitness News that there are 45 Vincentians and 42 non-nationals employed on the project.
However, the former workers told iWitness News that eight more foreign workers were expected to join OECC’s workforce at the hospital project site last weekend and seven more this week.
“And these are construction workers, and they have local construction workers pending for interviews and calls who have already applied to the company,” one of the former workers told iWitness News.
Another of the former employees told iWitness News that some of the people have applied since last year and have not received a call, adding, “All the applications just sit there.”
One of the workers told iWitness News that the company had, on file, 185 applications by general workers (namely labourers), 75 office staff, 128 skilled workers (steel benders, etc.), 75 carpenters, 45 cleaners and 80 drivers.
“Also, to add, these overseas staff that they are bringing from Guatemala, especially, they are masons and they are steel benders. Mind you, we have steel benders’ and masons’ applications locally on file, sitting catching dust.”
One of the former workers was of the view that the project was being “overpopulated with expats, and not giving the local people that have qualifications which are higher than their foreign people to provide them the opportunity to work”.
iWitness News spoke to four former and current workers at the project.
The former workers, who worked in administration at the company, were dismissed without warning, with their letters saying that their posts had been made redundant
“There are some things that were going on and they thought I would have been airing them out,” one of the former workers said, adding that the company was not pleased about the answers the former worker had given to an auditor about an SUV that the company had said it had “dumped”.
“I was given a termination letter stating that my position had been made redundant. When I was terminated, there was more work to do because the project has just started,” the former employee said.
“There were motives to get me out of the way, because … there are things I know,” the former employee told iWitness News.
Another former employee told iWitness News that a member of OECC’s senior staff recently told them that the auditor was coming and the employee should pass a certain document to that senior staff member so they could explain certain things to the auditor.
The worker said that the following day, they went to a Guatemalan who is a member of the management team, telling him that they had nothing to do, having passed over the files, as requested.
“So he was like, he overheard the Taiwanese, saying that they’re going to bring a Taiwanese to take control of the document log.”
The worker said they told the Guatemalan that no one had communicated to the worker.
The former worker said they (the former worker) sent an email to the relevant personnel in the company about the manner the situation had been handled. The former worker was presented with a letter of dismissal when they returned from lunch that same day.
The letter noted that the worker was employed in September 2024 and the employment relationship had continued “without any blemish”, but the worker’s post was being made redundant.
The worker told iWitness News that they went to the Labour Office, which called OECC, noting that the letter gave no reason for the dismissal and did not state the value of the remaining pay that was owed to the employee.
The Labour Department also told OECC that they had to give the former employee four weeks’ pay and not two days’ in lieu of notice of termination
The former worker told iWitness News that when they called OECC to inquire about when to collect her payment, they told her that they would not get the payment in lieu of notice because they had resigned.
They former worker said they went to the office and the payment was for two days’ pay in lieu of notice.
The former employee told iWitness News that they pointed out to OECC that as the Labour Department had indicated, they owed her four weeks’ pay in lieu of notice as well as payment for holidays that they had not given her.
“So they didn’t want to do it. So I had to kick a riot. I had to make noise. I had to let them know what time it is,” they said, adding that they then agreed to pay but gave her two cheques and some cash that did not amount to what they were owed.
“I said, ‘OK. My lawyer will get to you,” they said, adding that they had scheduled a visit with her lawyer.
One former employee who was paid all that was owed to her told iWitness News that while OECC had made another admin worker’s position redundant, there were other things in the company that they could have done, for which the company is trying to recruit staff.
“They basically disrupt people’s lives when people have bills; they have kids, so much things. I mean, it’s just like the injustice and the unfairness; it is just too much for us because they treat us like we are actually not in our own country. They would behave like if we’re in Taiwan or something, and they could do whatever they want with us, and it’s not right,” the former employee said.
Another of the dismissed workers said they believe that they were fired “because I am just a bit too boisterous when it comes to what is rightfully owed to me”.
The former worker, and engineer, said that when they first started working with the company, they was on a three-month probation during which they were being paid EC$2,500 a month, “which is drastically under what it is supposed to be.
“It was supposed to $4,000 and $5,000,” the former worker told iWitness News, adding that OECC said her salary would be adjusted after her probation.
“Now, they had us working nine hours a day, which is eight to five, including Saturdays, eight to five for that full three months. I told them that is above the labour laws, especially since they were not paying us overtime. … So we were working 50-something hours a week instead of the 40 or 44 hours.”
The worker said that when they spoke to OECC about the work hours, they adjusted it.
“They adjusted it, and then they dropped our salaries because they dropped the time. Then they told us we are not allowed to work any form of overtime unless they tell us that.”
The former worker told iWitness News that they had a degree in architecture and building construction technology.
The former worker said that OECC was looking for a chief engineer.
“I am more than well qualified for the position. I asked them multiple times if I could apply for the position. I was told no, only for them to bring in an architect, put that architect above me. That architect came from Guatemala, put him above me, and then have a meeting to tell me that I am supposed to assist him in the engineering. I told them straight up, no,” the workers said.
“I told them if my salary doesn’t match this. I will not be doing it. That became an issue.”
they said they normally went to work at 7:30 a.m. However, OECC told her that they were not going to be paid overtime and should arrive at work for 8.
“I started to come for eight, which is about 7:45, 7:50, somewhere there,” the worker said, adding that OECC then started to complain that they were coming to work too late and should arrive earlier.
“I said, ‘Excuse me?’ I said, ‘You’re not paying me for overtime. So if you want to pay me from eight, I will come from 8. That also became an issue.”
The former OECC worker said that when her probation ended, they had to continually ask for a letter about her status.
“Two weeks after, they issued me a letter: I do not take advice from authority. I am always absent in the evenings, and I am always late. That is what my letter stated, because I decided I want to stand up for what is mine,” the former employee told iWitness News.
“After being unemployed with the company, they paid me my four weeks’ notice, and they sent me along my way.”
The former employee said they were requesting the overtime pay due to her from her three-month probation, which amounted to EC$3,000.
“When I came, they gave me half of it. I made an issue about it, they beat around, around the bush until I had to go right back to the Labour Department to then get the rest of my money from them.”
Another of the former employees told iWitness News:
“In a nutshell, they are giving the impression to the public that, oh, the hospital is giving us jobs and XYZ. That is not the case. That is a lie from the pit of hell.”
The former employees also complained about the absence of sick leave and holiday pay.
“You come to work late, they take it out of your salary; you leave work early, they take it out of your salary. As a monthly-paid worker, you are not supposed to be taking anything out of the salary if a worker misses a day.”
Meanwhile, regarding the allegation that OECC was importing foreigners to perform non-skilled work, Biato told iWitness News that OECC commits the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to deliver the hospital on schedule.
“… St. Vincent government wants this project for the Vincentian people as soon as we can,” Viato said.
“So that’s why we are, according to the law, we can’t ask these people, the local people, to work during the holidays, but according to our schedule, which is very tight, we have to continue working these days. That’s why we have made some arrangements with these people from overseas, because they are committed to work with us during the month.”