11 Jun 2012

Proceeds from sale of Solomon Islands union's building to partly clear huge debt

7:02 pm on 11 June 2012

The chairman of the Solomon Islands company Russell Islands Plantations Limited says it has some ideas on how to recover the outstanding compensation owed by the National Union of Workers following the auction of the union's building.

RIPEL is to receive just over 400-thousand US dollars from the sale of the building to the Ministry of Justice on Friday, as part of efforts to collect one million US dollars owed it by the union.

The chairman of RIPEL, Patrick Wong, says the company accepts the sale price of the building and says RIPEL is considering how the union can pay the balance.

"We will have to in my opinion, give the union another opportunity to say out of the 7.3 million [Solomon Islands dollars] this is how much is offset after expenses. How do you propose you're going to pay for the balance, and invite them to come forward with some type of proposal."

Patrick Wong says one option could be for a special levy imposed on members but says it will be hurtful.

The National Workers Union has not been available for comment.