Chinese firms say they don't owe Alberta oilsands worker any wages
Canadian Press
By John Cotter
July 10 / 2009
EDMONTON — Companies linked to a Chinese energy giant say they don't owe any wages to a man who was employed as a temporary foreign worker at an Alberta oilsands project.
He is one of 132 Chinese men who worked at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s Horizon project in 2007. The Alberta government says the workers are owed $3 million in missing wages.
Legal documents filed on behalf of Sinopec Shanghai Engineering and SSEC Canada Ltd. say the worker, Huang Yungang, agreed to contribute part of the wages he earned in Alberta to social welfare and insurance funds in China.
The documents also say that he agreed to allow an official with SSEC - which is 90 per cent owned by Sinopec Shanghai - to make transactions from his bank account.
"These defendants at no time acted fraudulently or improperly with respect to the interests of Mr. Huang," reads a statement of defence filed in response to a lawsuit by the Christian Labour Association of Canada. The association filed the action in April on behalf of Huang to recover his share of the missing wages.
"These defendants deny that any monies are owed."
The statement of defence was filed just before other documents became public this week from a Beijing law firm that state Huang has voluntarily decided to drop his lawsuit against Sinopec and SSEC.
In his lawsuit, Huang claimed that $42,900 of his wages were fraudulently appropriated by Sinopec - a huge sum for a worker in China. He claimed that when he returned home, Sinopec and/or one of its agents directed that most of the money in his Fort McMurray bank account be paid to Sinopec or its agents in China.
The Chinese law firm says it has been retained by Huang to revoke the power of attorney he gave the labour association to file the lawsuit.
"You are directed to immediately and unconditionally discontinue all actions, suits and other legal proceedings," say the Chinese lawyers in a letter to the labour association's law firm.
Sinopec Shanghai officials were not available for comment.
Helen Wang, an official with SSEC Canada, said she has been told the lawsuit will not go ahead.
"We were pleased to learn that Mr. Huang has decided to drop his lawsuit and we have no further comment," Wang said.
Alberta was not part of the lawsuit. But the statement of defence filed by the companies has not changed the province's belief that the foreign workers are owed $3 million, said Alberta Employment spokesman Barry Harrison.
The province has compiled a list of the workers and plans to send a team to China to find and pay each one of them their missing wages from a trust fund set up by Canadian Natural Resources. But Harrison said that could take years.
He said he can't release any names because of privacy rules, but added Huang's name is probably on the list.
"These 132 workers are clearly owed this money and that hasn't changed at all."
Alex Pannu, a spokesman for the Christian labour association, said it is trying to independently confirm that Huang wants to drop the lawsuit.
Pannu said Huang gave no indication that he was considering changing his mind.
"It is a high-powered law firm in Beijing. We find it curious," Pannu said.
"If Mr. Huang asks us to discontinue the lawsuit we will do that. That won't be the end of efforts by CLAC to make sure that any state-owned Chinese companies that want to do business in the oilsands does so while complying fully with Canadian laws and Canadian business practices."
The Alberta government also confirmed Thursday that it still hasn't been able to serve Sinopec Shanghai Engineering officials with a summons to appear in court to face charges in the death of two Chinese temporary foreign workers at the Horizon site in April 2007.
Sinopec, SSEC Canada and Canadian Natural Resources together face a total of 53 charges under Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Sinopec Shanghai failed to show up in court earlier this year on the charges. The companies are to appear in court Sept. 14.
"CNRL has been served, the Canadian arm of Sinopec has been served, and it is the Chinese side of that that has yet to be served," Harrison said.
"We remain diligent that that must be done. They have an obligation to show up in court."
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hEV0lQD4oBQ...
