TWO workers and a security guard were shot and injured yesterday as the more than 600 workers at the site of the Bahia Principe Hotel at Pear Tree Bottom in St Ann went on strike, protesting against a one-week delay in the payment of their salaries.

Police did not reveal the names of the injured, but confirmed that the three were shot during the disturbance by workers at the site.

The workers were protesting a one-week delay in payment of salaries by contractors at the site, who the employees said told them that the monthly payment, due Friday, July 14, would not be paid until July 21.

The protest started at around seven o'clock when the workers were informed that their pay would be delayed. The workers said they were not given a reason for the delay, but a spokesman said they were already underpaid and delay was unacceptable.

He said the protest had nothing to do with Dominican workers who have been employed at the site, but said the action had scared off those workers, who left the property in bus loads yesterday.

"Di whole a dem gone, about three bus come fi dem, maybe dem reach airport already," the worker said.

The protesting workers torched a security post at the site as guards tried to restore order. During the melee which followed, a security officer allegedly fired shots which hit two workers.

Workers told the Observer that the guard was then disarmed and shot by one of the protestors.

All three were taken to the St Ann's Bay Hospital where they were admitted. Their conditions were not considered life-threatening.

The workers then took their protest to the street, blocking the main road that bypasses the hotel, bringing traffic between Runaway Bay and Discovery Bay to a halt.

The police, who were summoned, were forced to use tear gas to disperse the crowd and order was restored around 10:00 o'clock.

The contractors could not be reached yesterday.
Workers said they have complained on a number of occasions about the working conditions at the site, especially relating to salaries, which they said were below standard rates for the most part.

"Right now them drop we paybill; mason man usually get $2,500, dem drop it to $2,000 per day," said a Pear Tree resident employed to the site. Labourers earn $940 per day, he added.

Work at the hotel was stalled temporarily in May after Justice Bryan Sykes quashed the environmental permit that allowed the developers to proceed with the construction of the multi-billion dollar, 1,918-room hotel.

But on June 23, the judge varied his ruling, allowing work to continue on the project.

Ground was broken on the hotel project on October 7, 2005 by then prime minister P J Patterson - five months ahead of his departure from office.

The first phase of the hotel - 734 rooms - was originally expected to be completed in October 2006, but it is unclear if the several disturbances at the site since work started will force a revision of that time frame.

Bahia Principe, on completion of all phases, would be Jamaica's largest resort complex.

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