Federation of Trade Unions Chairman Wong Kwok-kin (2nd Right) and legislator Wong Kwok-hing (2nd Left) speak at a rally outside the Legislative Council building, wearing bright yellow T-shirts with the number 33 in bold letters, prior to a debate in the Council Chamber on the Minimum Wage Bill. Edmond Tang / China Daily

CE commended for honoring legislation pledge to wage-earners

The Legislative Council (LegCo) resumed debate Wednesday on the second reading of the Minimum Wage Bill, with nearly 30 lawmakers speaking during the session.

The meeting, which adjourned at about 10 pm, started with debate on the government and non-amendments before the bill goes to the final stage of third reading.

Wong Kwok-hing from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions is glad to see the implementation of the minimum wage to protect grassroots workers who have the least bargaining power and working poor after striving for gains for more than a decade.

He expressed appreciation to Chief Executive Donald Tsang for honoring his election pledge to pursue minimum wage legislation, although it had been delayed by the ineffective wage protection movement for two years.

Lee Cheuk-yan from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions declared the minimum wage legislation a triumph for the workers and justice.

He added that he will continue to strive for an hourly wage of HK$33, which could, in the views of the unions, support the basic living of a household and allow them to live with dignity, after enactment of the principal legislation.

Nelson Wong of the Democratic Party said it is necessary to have a statutory minimum wage to protect workers with the least competitiveness and combat the growing wage gap. As to the minimum wage level, he said that there must be a guaranteed lower limit that is higher than the social security allowance or half of the median wage in order to protect the workers.

Social welfare constituency lawmaker Peter Cheung objected that the bill empowers the LegCo only to approve or reject but not amend the minimum wage rate, blaming the government for treating the legislature as a "rubber stamp".

The Civic Party's Ronny Tong supported the minimum wage legislation. He wondered why the government insisted on reviewing the minimum wage rate biennially against the unions' proposal of an annual review. At the early stage of the legislation, it is appropriate to review the wage rate every year, he said, because many workers are still earning a very low wage.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) supported a statutory minimum wage because it could protect workers from excessively low wages and maintain social stability, said the party's Tam Yiu-chung.

In their view, the minimum wage rate should be linked to the social security and median salary levels so as to motivate people to find work.

Like many pro-business lawmakers, Wong Ting-kwong, from the import and export constituency, feared that the minimum wage would impose a heavy financial burden on small and medium enterprises as staff costs constitutes a large portion of their operating cost.

Although his political party, the DAB, supports a yearly review of the minimum wage, he has obtained an exemption that allows him to abstain from voting on that amendment, given that his voters are overwhelmingly supportive of a biennial review.

China Daily

(HK Edition 07/15/2010 page1)