Labour ministry investigates disorderly conduct of foreign workers |20 June 2013

A communiqué from the ministry writes that on Sunday June 16, 2013, the police received reports of disorderly conduct and acts of violence being committed by the non-Seychellois workers of the Eastern European Company working on the Savoy project. This was at their accommodation site at zone 21 at Pointe Larue.

Officers from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development went on site to assess the situation and the workers through their spokespersons alleged that their accommodation space was too cramped, the hygiene at the site was poor, they were not receiving adequate food and water and they were not being paid overtime.

The police confirmed that the workers causing the disorder had attacked one of their colleagues who was hospitalised. There are allegations that the workers involved were under the influence of alcohol. The police and officers from the ministry managed to calm the workers down.

However, on Monday morning, violence erupted again and more workers were attacked. A group of 40 workers were identified as the instigators of these disruptions and were duly arrested by the police.

When officers from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Health arrived on site to investigate the claims of the night before, the workers said they did not have any problems with regard to their living conditions.

Nonetheless, as they had made these allegations, representatives from the two ministries still went ahead and investigated the matter and identified that the real cause of their problem was to do with a recruitment agency in India.

As the majority of these instigators have expressed their desire to go back home, their employer has agreed to repatriate them. They will be paid what they are entitled, taking into consideration the offences they have committed.

The Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Transport are working together to investigate the incident as the workers have been engaged in acts of violence against each other.