A woman threatened to jump from the roof of a newly-completed building on the campus of the University of Macau (UM) in Hengqin yesterday afternoon over a pay row, the authorities said.
The woman was a subcontractor hired by the main contractor of the building project. She returned to a safe location after being persuaded by police officers.
The incident was initially believed to involve a labour dispute, before the authorities finally confirmed that it involved a pay row for construction fees among contractors.
According to a Fire Services Bureau (CB) statement yesterday, the bureau received a report at around 2:45 p.m. that a woman was threatening to jump from the roof of residential college building W31 on the University of Macau campus in Hengqin.
At the scene firefighters set up a rescue air cushion. The woman later returned to a safe location after being persuaded by the police, the CB statement said.
The University of Macau currently has 10 residential colleges in use. The university’s project to build two more residential college buildings, which are marked as W31 and W32 respectively on the university’s official map, started last year. The construction of the two buildings has recently been completed. The university granted Shanghai Construction Group (Macau) Company Limited a contract last year for the project.
In a statement last night, the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said that it received a report from the police yesterday afternoon that a woman had threatened to jump from a building on a construction site on the University of Macau campus in Hengqin, possibility involving a labour dispute. The statement said that the woman later returned to a safe location after being persuaded by police officers.
Last night’s DSAL statement said that DSAL officials talked to the university and the project’s main contractor about the incident, after which the bureau has “provisionally” confirmed that the woman threatened to jump in an attempt to urge the contractor to pay her construction fees. “For the time being the bureau has confirmed that it did not involve a labour dispute,” the statement said.
The DSAL statement urged people to express their demands, or to resolve their disputes, in a rational way. The statement pledged that the bureau will continue to pay close attention to the situation, adding that DSAL officials will follow up on the case if a labour dispute is involved.
Public broadcaster TDM reported yesterday that the woman had not received her construction fees from the main contractor so that she could pay the salaries of about 60 workers whom she had hired.
A rescue cushion is prepared outside a newly-completed residential college building on the University of Macau (UM) campus in Hengqin yesterday afternoon when a woman threatened to jump from its roof over a pay row. Courtesy: TDM
