Chinese Casino Workers Organize Protest After Employer Charged With Importing Illegal Labor

2017-04-15 6

Over 50 Chinese workers gathered outside of the Imperial Pacific International Resort’s casino construction site on April 14 to demand to be paid after their employer was charged with illegally importing workers from China.

This footage, taken by Saipan resident Glen Hunter, showers the protesters marching to the construction site, waving banners that read “MCC, return my hard-earned money” and speaking with interpreters and media.

The workers are employed by Imperial Pacific’s contractor MCC International Saipan, and were alleged to have been brought to Saipan on tourist visas, Reuters reported.

Speaking through an interpreter, the workers claimed that they were made to believe that they were going to work in Saipan legally, Marianas Variety reported, and said they had paid $3,000 to $5,000 each to a recruiter. They claimed that they had been working for three months but were still unpaid.

MCC International Saipan was charged by the FBI on April 3 for illegally importing and employing Chinese workers, according to the Reuters report.