A Vietnamese woman who threatened to jump from the 28th floor of a Hong Kong building over unpaid wages was persuaded to go back inside this afternoon, ending an intense 24-hour impasse with police and firefighters.
The woman, who works as a plasterer, went to Elizabeth House on Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay before 12:50pm yesterday with three of her colleagues, one male and two female.
HK01 reports that they were doing renovation work on the building.
According to Apple Daily, the four colleagues were demanding at least HK$110,000 (US$14,000) in unpaid wages.
After failing to get their wages, the newspaper reports that the woman then climbed out of building and onto the bamboo scaffolding, and refused to go back inside.
Police, fire fighters and a negotiator were sent to the scene with a rescue air cushion.
The woman stayed outside overnight, and reportedly didn’t eat or drink during the 24-hour protest.
However, she was finally persuaded to go back inside the building at around 1pm this afternoon.
A fire fighter at the scene told Coconuts HK: “We arrived here at 9am this morning, and we also came yesterday. Our team had been kept on standby over 20 hours. I am glad that she eventually got over it.”
Elizabeth House is a mixed commercial and residential building made up of several blocks.
According to Ming Pao, the engineering company responsible for renovating the Elizabeth Building’s outer wall is Asia Engineering (International) Co. Limited.
One Elizabeth House resident, surnamed Law told newspaper: “The project has not been completed since it began in September last year,” the resident said.
The resident also provided pictures showing renovation workers on the bamboo scaffolding and not wearing any harnesses.
The newspaper also reported that in July, the company were fined HK$10,000 (US$1,280) for depositing construction waste on the sidewalk without adopting dust emission control measures during its renovation works at Elizabeth House.
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