| …Owner admits mistakes in employment processChina Trading, the Chinese company at the centre of allegations of exploiting Amerindian workers and using alcohol to lure them into performing lewd sex acts, yesterday denied the allegations, while admitting it made mistakes in the employment process.“It’s 100 percent not true,” Jason Wang,Nike Air Max Wholesale Australia, the owner of China Trading told Kaieteur News yesterday when asked about the allegations that he would provide alcohol to his Amerindian workers and then later have them engage in sexual acts.“I am shocked; I don’t know the right words to use,” said Wang, 31, who on completing University education in China was hired by a company to manage a Georgetown photo laboratory back in 1999. When the lab closed down, Wang stayed on in Guyana and started China Trading as a small business in 2003.Wang has applied for naturalisation to become a citizen of Guyana. He was in New York after just attending a business leadership conference in China when he learnt of the accusations being made by four ex-workers. Wang was chosen by the Chinese Embassy in Georgetown to attend the conference.When he returned to Guyana Monday,Alexander Mogilny Jersey, Wang first visited the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs regarding the accusations being made against him and his company. He next went to the Ministry of Labour to “try find out what wrong we did and what happened.”Later, Wang visited the Brickdam Police Station regarding the allegations of sexual misconduct. The Police there told him that no one had made a complaint. Wang said the accusations have left him frustrated.He said that he deliberately did not give the workers alcohol because they had poor drinking habits, so the allegation that he gave them alcohol after which the sex acts were performed is not true.Further, in July last year, when the workers claimed the sex acts were performed at the company’s bond in Mandela Avenue, Wang said he only had one Amerindian girl working at the time, while he had three Chinese men and their wives.In addition, one single Chinese man was then employed. So Wang dismissed the claim by the workers that they were forced to drink alcohol and partake in sex with “two” young Amerindian girls who were also housed in the bond.He said that the one Amerindian girl who was employed with the company at the time lived with her boyfriend.Wang sought to clear up misconceptions about the living conditions of the workers. The men claimed that they were housed under deplorable conditions and they were given dog to eat.Wang said that when the men came to Georgetown, he offered to rent a place for them, but the workers asked to stay in the living quarters at his bond and sleep in hammocks since renting a place would involve payment and they would also have to cook. The businessman said that he offered them the living quarters and also provided meals. He said that they indeed complained about the food they were given and he asked his Chinese cook to “cook different things.”Regarding the claim by the men that they were once fed dog meat, Wang said this was also not true.“Even for myself and my Chinese staff we don’t eat dog meat. We don’t eat dog. Everybody (Guyanese) accustomed to hearing Chinese eat dog,Asics Fuzex Rush Homme,” said Wang.When he asked his cook about the allegation, Wang said he was told it was all a joke made on one occasion.“One time the boy asked him (the cook) if Chiney eat dog and the Chinese man joke, ‘not only Chinese,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, you eat dog one time; I cook dog one time for you already,” Wang related.Responding to allegations of low pay, Wang said that the workers were hired as porters in his store for $8,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale,500 a week. When they encountered problems with the store clerks, they asked to leave the job.Since they had come from as far as Lethem and the company paid their bus fare, management asked them if they would like to work as labourers at a construction site on Church Street.Wang said the men agreed, but got into disagreements with the masons and carpenters. Given this, they asked to leave the job and be paid off after working a total of three weeks at the construction site and at the store.For payment, Wang said his wife calculated their pay at $14,Anthony Brown Jersey,500, since she deducted the bus fare as well as advances they took to buy clothes and whatever else they needed.In addition, Wang said their overtime was not calculated, but they were just paid for three weeks of work based on the wages agreement after the deductions were made.He said that not inputting the overtime pay was a mistake which was later corrected. He said the men received their full pay, along with overtime, plus the bus fare back to their village.Regarding the employment of a 14-year-old boy, Wang also admitted the company made a mistake by not asking for a photo identification card. He said the boy claimed he was 17 years old and that is the age by which he was recorded in the company’s records.Since the allegations were made by the four ex-workers, the company was visited by officials of the Ministry of Labour and the National Insurance Scheme.Wang said that he had no problem with this, since he wants to do business the professional way. In the future, he said he will demand photo identification and a Police clearance of all new employees.“If I did that I wouldn’t have had this underage problem,” Wang said.Further, he said that the company erred in not having the workers sign after collecting their overtime pay.“I was unprofessional in this field,” Wang admitted. This he said would now change.As for the workers still staying at his bond, Wang said he has since asked them again if they would like to move out and rent an apartment if they are not satisfied with the facilities he offers free of charge.The workers have said they would like to stay at the living quarters in the bond and Wang has offered to improve the facilities.“I always say there is a lot to learn in business and life,” Wang declared. |
