Unpaid Workers Take Entire Island Under Hostage

Nick Shields, October 17th 11:46 am
Chinese workers have taken an undetermined number of Israeli contractors under hostage on the West Caicos Island. The workers were building a hotel resort on the 9 square mile island when the group that was financing the project went bankrupt about 75 percent of the way through. The workers are demanding to be paid for the work that they have done. The workers have taken over the island by closing the port and not letting anybody leave. Ygal Yankovitz said that they workers were angry but were not holding anybody hostage. An Israeli at the scene said "They're not being violent at this time, but the situation could get worse. They're surrounding our living quarters and not letting us leave." The project that was under construction was the Ritz Carlton Molasses Reef Project and it was going to feature a 125 room hotel. However, the Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. who were financing the project went bankrupt and were unable to pay the workers. The Government of Turks and Caicos said that they were investigating the event.
This is a very tough situation for everyone involved. It is hard to tell who is right in this situation unless you know what was stated in the contracts of the workers, if there even was a contract. No matter what it is not right for the workers to take the contractors under hostage for not being paid. It is hard to determine who is telling the truth on whether they are allowing people to leave or not. I do doubt though that the contractors would stay on the island for no reason when the project has been stopped. The workers probably are not being violent or anything, they just want their money.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/16/island.workers.rebel.ap/index.html