One Hundred Workers From India Rush To Complete Hotel In Havana

One Hundred Workers From India Rush To Complete Hotel In Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, 21 July 2106 – Over 100 workers from India are working on the
construction of the Manzana de Gomez hotel in Havana, being
reconstructed by the French construction group Bouygues, according to
Reuters. This is the first time there has been a massive contracting of
foreign labor on the island.

The company resorted to the exception introduced by the Cuban government
in the Foreign Investment Law, that authorizes "special regulations"
with regards to foreign workers in "special circumstances."

Apparently the delays experienced in the construction of the hotel,
whose opening was scheduled for October 2016, in a context of high
tourist demand, are the extraordinary reason, which has led to the
contracting for these workers.

Although the government has not responded to questions fro Reuters, the
workers interviewed by the agency and information confirmed by sources
from the company, this appears to be the first time a company has passed
over state workers on the island to hire their own from elsewhere.

A spokesman for the French Company, which it currently building three
hotels in Cuba, says that Bouygues has plans to bring more Indian
workers to the island, currently being trained, in the coming months.

Inderjeet Singh Chopra, one of the workers interviewed by Reuters, said
more than a hundred of his compatriots are engaged on the island working
as electricians, plumbers, carpenters and masons.

Similarly, a diplomat quoted by the agency, estimated that they are
paying the Indians around 1,500 euros a month, more than ten times what
a Cuban receives. "The Cuban workers are not well paid, so they have
very little motivation," he said.

Source: One Hundred Workers From India Rush To Complete Hotel In Havana
/ 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/one-hundred-workers-from-india-rush-to-complete-hotel-in-havana-14ymedio/