:: rawblogXport ::

:: Thursday, June 19, 2008 ::

International drama plays out over Alta. worker’s death benefit cheques - The Cape Breton Post
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — It’s a story mired in deceit perpetrated by an impostor, but thanks to a well-timed phone call and a quick-thinking labour association representative, there’s almost a happy ending.

Two Chinese labourers — scaffolder Ge Genbao, 27, and electrical engineer Lui Hongliang, 33 — were killed after a roof collapsed in a large oil tank at the Canadian Natural Resources’ Horizon site near Fort McMurray on April 24, 2007.

Although Ge did not belong to a union, he was covered by a group insurance program under the collective agreement between the employer and the Christian Labour Association of Canada.

When his body was returned to China, the labour association sent his personal belongings and death certificate to his widow, Liu Ruijuan, 26.

However, just a week after the funeral, Liu and her six-year-old daughter Ge Ge were thrown out of the home of her husband’s mother and two sisters.

Although under Chinese law, Ge’s parents were entitled to one-third of his benefits, the mother and sisters weren’t satisfied and concocted a plan for one of the sisters to pose as her brother’s widow.

posted 6:28 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

-------------------------------------------