Employees of the Dynasty Hotel & Casino in Tinian – part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – have been left stranded and without basic utilities after power to the property was cut last Friday.
According to The Guam Daily Post, around 100 workers and their children are still living on the island as they wait for up to eight months’ worth of back pay owed to them by Dynasty, which ceased operations late last year.
They had been living off rations left over on the property but are now running out of time with the food certain to spoil in the coming days now that power has been cut off. Dynasty reportedly owes the Commonwealth of Utilities Corporation US$1.3 million.
Tinian Mayor Joey San Nicolas has described the conditions inside their barracks as almost totally unliveable with workers sleeping in tents and under makeshift canopies because of the extreme heat. He has offered to shelter the workers at the local gym as well as requesting a range of items from the Red Cross including mosquito coils, toilet paper, paper towels, drinking water, detergent, electric fans, butane gas, canned food, trash bins, trash bags, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap.
The workers, mostly from the Philippines, want to return home but only after receiving the wages they are owed.
