Unions have issued an ultimatum to the Peppers hotel chain: pay up or face sit-in protests in your luxury hotels.
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The company was yesterday given 48 hours to find more than $216,000 owed to 40 Chinese-Australian workers who helped fit out Peppers' 169-room hotel under construction in Wollongong's Harbour St.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is holding the Stella Hospitality Group, who are behind the Peppers chain, responsible for the unpaid wages despite the fact that they did not construct the building or hire the workers.
Stella, however, will manage the building once completed and market it under its Mantra hotel brand.
Carrying placards which read "Shame Peppers Shame", some written in Mandarin, the workers, most of whom do not speak English, staged a protest outside the hotel's construction site yesterday, supported by CFMEU officials.
Construction workers on site watched on, while representatives from development company Parkview kept a close eye on activities.
The issue has sparked a blame game between Parkview, labour force subcontractor Jantom and Stella.
Meanwhile, the workers have been struggling to pay their rent or even buy Christmas presents for their families.
The workers, many of whom travelled from Sydney yesterday, have also been denied superannuation payments. They have been joined in their fight by the South Coast Labour Council, led by secretary Arthur Rorris.
CFMEU secretary Andrew Ferguson spoke to the workers yesterday, vowing to take the fight to the front door of Peppers hotels, if the chain did not pay the workers.
"Our next step is that we are giving an ultimatum that they have 48 hours to intervene or these workers will be taking their dispute to the front door of Peppers resorts in NSW," Mr Ferguson said.
Gyprock fitter Jimmy Xue is one of the workers who attended the protest.
He was employed to work on the site by Jantom, who were hired by the building's developers Parkview to find labour.
He claims to have been promised payment by a man he identified as Mr Lu, who is now in China, according to the unions.
"We want to fight back and get our money. We want to have our rights at work," Mr Xue said.
Parkview national construction manager Gary Cory said he was still investigating the matter and would meet representatives from the union and Jantom today at 3pm to try to come to a resolution.
"I can't speak for the subcontractor. He is coming to the meeting on Wednesday. We can't vouch for him until he is here," he said.
"We have paid all our contractual requirements to Jantom."
In a statement, the Stella Group said the dispute was between Jantom and the union and expressed disappointment at boycott calls.
"It was Stella Hospitality Group's sincere hope that this third-party matter would be resolved amicably and to the satisfaction of all interested groups, including the union, contractor and workers," the statement read.
