Hotel Riviera shuts down

  15 employees walk out since Mother’s Day

The Hotel Riviera Saipan shut down operations on May 13, Mother’s Day, as it has no electric power and its 15 employees refused to report for work after not receiving their paychecks for two consecutive months, Saipan Tribune learned.

Worse, the last paychecks given to employees all bounced due to insufficiency of funds and the hotel’s assistant general manager, Hye Kyeong Lee, could not be located, according to some employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Changshin Resort, the owner of the 135-room Hotel Riviera, owes its 15 employees between $3,000 to $5,000 in unpaid wages, the staff disclosed.

The hotel, adjacent to the Northern Marianas College, was dark when Saipan Tribune visited the premises Friday night. The main entrance was blocked with barbed wires.

At least three male Koreans were in the premises. One of them stated that the hotel was closed down because the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. cut their power a few months ago.

Another visit over the weekend and yesterday showed no people at all. A hotel’s van and a tour bus were parked in front of the lobby. The water in the outdoor swimming pool is already green due to lack of maintenance.

Saipan Tribune learned that some workers are still staying in the hotel rooms, using candles and flashlights at night.

About five to six in-house tenants have already left in the past few weeks because the management cut off the generator supply.

One staff said that the hotel management has been using a power generator since Feb. 26, 2012, after CUC cut their power for failing to pay at least $40,000 in utility bills.

The management stopped using the generator on May 5, 2012, one worker said.

Since 2009, the wages of the hotel’s workers have been on and off due to lack of funds. The workers kept working as the management would give them $150 to $200 whenever there is a collection.

After some workers complained to the U.S. Labor Department, the management issued paychecks in December 2011, postdated to Dec. 20, 2011. The checks, however, all bounced due to lack of funds.

In January 2012, the workers did a work stoppage to protest, but the management talked to them, one staff said.

“Since Mother’s Day we did not work because we’re abandoned, so the hotel already closed,” another worker said.

A few weeks ago, a Korean national came to the hotel and introduced himself as coming from the Korea main office of the new owner. The Korean promised that the new owner will address the problem at the hotel by the end of this month.

“Although we received a lot of broken promises in the past, we are still willing to work, that’s why we are still waiting until the end of this month,” the staff said.