FORTY Chinese construction workers are at the heart of a reinvigorated union campaign to win back wages and conditions they say were lost during the Howard years.

The Chinese workers, employed to build a $50 million hotel overlooking the beach at Wollongong, south of Sydney, claim they are owed $216,000 in unpaid wages.

Work on the hotel, to be managed by the Stella Hospitality Group, owner of the luxury Peppers chain, could stop as early as Monday.

The workers, who speak little English, travelled to Sydney to meeet Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union officials yesterday. The officials said the case was an example of the exploitation and abuse of non-English speaking workers that had ballooned during the 11 years of the Howard government.

They said the men had either been underpaid or not paid at all since October and spent a very miserable Christmas and New Year as a result.

Some of the men with children said they were behind in their rent and others had been forced to move in with friends.

CFMEU’s NSW state secretary Andrew Ferguson said: “We are finding after 11 years of the Howard government some of the worst employment practices of poor countries replicated in Australia . The construction industry is a dog-eat-dog system and we are often confronted with workers who are notpaid.”

Finding anyone to answer questions about the situation proved impossible yesterday.

The workers had been employed by a plastering and interior construction company called Jantom Group. The office telephone number listed on its website had been disconnected.

A director of the hotel’s developers Jempac, David Shalala, said they had not hired the men and referred inquiries to the construction company Parkview. Parkview did not respond to requests for information yesterday.

A spokesman for the Stella Hospitality Group said it would manage the property after it was finished and the failure to pay the workers was not its responsibility.

“The Stella Hospitality Group hopes the current situation is resolved amicably and to the satisfaction of all parties,” said Christopher Jones, the firm’s general manager for marketing.

Jack Jing, 20, who believed he was owed $9300, said the men were angry. “I thought I would get paid so I kept working,” he said. “It was very hard work. I am very angry at the boss. I don’t know what I can do now. My friends are supporting me.”

Chun “Michael” Shan, 41, who much to his own embarrassment organised the Chinese workers for the company, said he was owed for 62 days’ work. He has two children and is four weeks behind in his rent.

“The boss was very, very good at talking, saying, `I will pay you later’,” he said. “Later, later. They gave us a cheque and it was cancelled. A lot of us now have financial problems because we worked for so long without pay.”

Guan “Jimmy” Xue, 18, said he was owed for 30 days’ work. He said he just kept working because he did not know what else to do.

“Everyone is very angry,” he said. “How would you feel if you were working and the company didn’t pay you before Christmas? What if you want to buy something for your children or your girlfriend? You just sit still and you are crying.”