Angry construction workers resume blockade at Odense University Hospital site

Romanian and Italian workers have again blocked access to the construction site of Odense’s new university hospital after rejecting a payment proposal from the main contractor, Danish broadcaster DR reports.

The protest resumed Thursday after workers dismissed an offer from OHPT, the Italian-led consortium overseeing the project. The deal would have provided half their unpaid wages in two weeks and required them to leave the site until June 8.

“They want us to go home and return on June 8, then they’ll pay us,” said Inout Cimpesu, a Romanian worker acting as a spokesperson. “The men won’t accept that. They don’t trust them.”

Many of the protesters previously worked for Techo Build, a Romanian subcontractor that went bankrupt, leaving them without a month’s wages. They had briefly lifted the blockade Thursday morning while awaiting the outcome of negotiations but reinstated it after the offer was presented.

Workers have vowed to expand the protest Friday, blocking a second entrance. “We’ll stay here until someone talks to us,” Cimpesu said. “There must be someone from the Danish state who finds this unacceptable.”

DR has requested comment from OHPT regarding the workers’ demands and the renewed blockade.