Workers Protest At New BEC Plant in Hatchet Bay

(Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera) - The new BEC power plant in Hatchet Bay was the scene of a "Sit-Out" on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by subcontracted workers who said they have not been paid for about four weeks.

The workers who were contracted by Heavy Marines and Foundations Ltd (HMF), a subcontractor of the Canadian company, MAN Diesel Canada Ltd, allegedly paid them only $100 each on Friday February 26 after not paying them for three to four weeks.

The men who said that they have been employed as welders, painters, masons and general construction workers on the electricity generation facility has in 2010 had to deal with their payment schedule being shifted from weekly to biweekly and finally this month they had not been paid.

Mr. Jones, flashes his passport to emphasize his point that as a skilled, proud Bahamian he expects to be paid for his work.

Mr. Elwood  Jones who described himself as a proud Bahamian from Grand Bahama, said he came to Eleuthera on a contract as a welder after the many foreign workers on the project had left.

“The foreigners came and made all the money and now they gone….when it comes to the Bahamians with the nitty gritty work, what happened to the paycheck?” asked Mr. Jones. He said he had been at the job for a month and had not even received the per diem he had been promised.

The BEC plant in Hatchet Bay is officially still in the testing and tweaking stage involving the contractor MAN Diesel and the Government of The Bahamas.