Ex-Eurotex workers to share nearly $100,000

Near 300 former workers of the bankrupt garment manufacturer Eurotex (Saipan) Inc. who are owed money by the company are entitled to share close to $100,000.

Former Judge Timothy H. Bellas, chairman of the Garment Oversight Board, disclosed that the United States Trustee contacted him to assist them in locating these former Eurotex workers.

“So any Eurotex workers who might still be out there who are owed money should contact us,” said Bellas. He can be reached at telephone number 323-2115 and at fax number 323-2116.

“It is not a huge amount, but it is almost $100,000. And they [Trustee] are having trouble locating the workers. They actually have the money and they want to pay the money out to the workers,” he said. “That means that, with a total of $95,000, they could get a lot more money than a few hundred bucks…close to $700 to $800 each.”

The former judge stated that they looked through their records at GOB, but they can’t find any Eurotex workers that got any repatriation money.

“I think they [workers] were gone before we [GOB] actually came into existence that’s why we never made [repatriation] payments,” he said.

Bellas provided the Saipan Tribune a list of the workers (all Chinese) who have claims in the Eurotex bankruptcy case and the addresses of the employees.

The former judge said the addresses are probably the places where the Eurotex workers were located when they put in their claims in the bankruptcy case.

The addresses include Hyunjin Saipan Inc., Jin Apparel Inc., Sam Marianas Inc., La Mode Inc., Neo Fashion Inc., Mirage Saipan Co., Rifu Apparel Corp., and Mengs Corp.

Some workers have also listed China Guangzhou Labor Service as their address.

Bellas said that, although the GOB could have made repatriation payment, they still have trouble contacting those who are eligible to get some money under a settlement agreement in a class-suit.

“We tried to contact them; we gave them 60 days to contact us back. We told them that they could call us, they could fax us, they could e-mail us, whatever they wanted to do. When they didn’t contact us, we cut them off from the list and we moved on to the people down the list,” he said, referring to the garment workers who were found eligible to avail of repatriation funds.

GOB was set up pursuant to the $20-million settlement in the class-suit against CNMI garment industry and some retailers. GOB’s job is to oversee the monitoring program of the garment industry.