HONG KONG: More than 3,000 sub-contract staff will strike today at Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW), the biggest local telecommunications service provider. The workers are protesting salary reductions.

Contractors at PCCW have asked staff to accept a 10 percent pay cut after PCCW slashed contract fees by an identical amount. Angry subcontract employees will quit work for half a day to stage a protest outside PCCW headquarters this morning. Between 2,000-3,000 workers (including around 500 union members) were expected to take part.

"PCCW is really an unscrupulous employer," commented Ha Chi-hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Telecommunication Industry Employees General Union. "Many of the sub-contracting companies were formed by former PCCW employees who were let go by the company after 2002. Many are earning only half as much as when they were working for PCCW. I wonder how they can support their families if their wages are further reduced."

Staff unions at PCCW also threatened strike action should management carry out staff layoffs or cut pay for union members.

PCCW staff unions have charged that the company is about to implement major layoffs, despite the continued profitability of corporate operations. The unions allege that the plan will be carried out within the next few days. The staff organizations say they intend to retaliate with a range of industrial actions including a strike and public protests, Leung Ting-to, chairman of PCCW Employees General Union, warned yesterday.

The company currently employs some 12,000 workers.

A company spokesman responded that PCCW would strive to avoid layoffs and would meet with staff representatives to try to find ways of getting through this difficult time. He also said various departments are considering re-organization plans but such plans would be decided and implemented by department heads.

The company expressed confidence that the departments will re-organize their resources effectively, while continuing to provide quality service to customers. As to the sub-contracting staff, PCCW said it would continue discussions with subcontractors in the hope of averting today's planned walkout.

PCCW management met with the staff unions yesterday afternoon to discuss cost-saving measures. After the meeting, Terry Ip, chairman of the PCCW Staff Association, quoted the company as saying that it would weigh various measures such as cutting jobs/wages and asking staff to take unpaid leave, as a way of cutting expenditures. As the company has made no disclosure of plans or timetables, Ip said he could not say which departments were likely to be hit nor how many staff might be affected.

Ip criticized the company's handling of the matter for the way staff members have been left anxious and uncertain about their futures. He said he had raised the concerns of staff and asked that the company declare layoffs only as a last resort, when all other options were exhausted.

Leung Ting-to, chairman of the PCCW Employees General Union, said management proposed at the meeting various options to cut expenditures. Although the company has yet to make any announcements, he understood PCCW had already calculated last Thursday that it would lay off about 600 workers.

He predicted the heaviest job losses would come in sales, engineering and maintenance departments which have the largest numbers of staff.

He echoed remarks of other union leaders that his union would respond to job cuts with job actions and possibly a strike.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation denied news reports on Sunday that it will sack up to 1,000 staff this week.

According to lawmaker Ip Wai-ming from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, the staff targeted for layoffs included workers in the logistics and investment departments. Ip said he feared the other banks would follow suit.

Together with his three other unionist colleagues on the council, he wrote to Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung, asking him to urge the bank to state whether the reports of planned layoffs were true. A spokesman for the bank refused to comment on the news report, but later last night, the Labour and Welfare Bureau said it had contacted the bank and was told there would be no large-scale layoff for the time being.

In an appeal to major corporations, Financial Secretary John Tsang asked employers to demonstrate corporate social responsibility by keeping workers on the job except in cases of absolute necessity. He urged companies to face the "very difficult time" with their staff.

(HK Edition 02/10/2009 page1)