"Strike Halts Work on Anguilla Resort - (c) 2007 The Associated Press

THE VALLEY, Anguilla -- A strike by more than 250 laborers from India has halted construction of a $236 million resort in Anguilla.

The workers, recruited to the Caribbean island due to a labor shortage, met with employers and officials Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss complaints of long hours, poor medical care and abusive language.

They were hired to work on the Viceroy Resorts & Residences project through Pomposh, an Indian recruitment agency, and Carillion, a British construction company.

Viceroy, owned by the Kor Hotel Group in Los Angeles, said it was working with Anguilla's government to resolve the dispute "fairly and expeditiously."

The company said it had launched its own probe into the workers' claims and would hold its contractors responsible for adhering to "best employment practices."

The Indian workers, who came to Anguilla three months ago, say they work 11 hours a day for as little as a third of the $600 a month that they were promised.
Caribbean nationals working on the project are not taking part in the strike."

This issue is particularly interesting as apparently the local police tried to stop the men from walking to The Valley (=downtown).  Within minutes the local radio station was broadcasting live (via cell phones) about the situation and the entire island went to see what was going on.

The interesting thing is that even though the imported workers had caused some lay-off's of local Anguillians, the native islanders demanded that the Indian laborers be allowed the freedom to complain to the Anguillian government.  The brought pickup truck's and water to help and the workers continue their strike.  From a local retired QC's blog:

  "We must all have been concerned that it was the Anguillian workers who had been laid off by the arrival of the cheap Indian labour who replaced them that might have become violent. It was appropriate that it was the Indians themselves who protested. It seems to have completely bypassed government ministers that slavery has been abolished in Anguilla since 1834. They have totally ignored the government mantra: there will be no development in Anguilla except it is demonstrably for the benefit of the Anguillians themselves. No development, no matter how deserving or desirable, will be permitted except it is principally structured and designed to benefit Anguillians. Importing 500 Indian laborers, who were to be paid slave wages, in order to replace Anguillian workers, was demonstrably not to the benefit of Anguilla or Anguillians. Our government has lost its way. It was the compassion of the ordinary Anguillian that redeemed our government today."