On April 24, Lee Cheuk-yan, HKCTU General Secretary and member of the Legislative Council (LegCo), sponsored a motion in LegCo calling for the introduction of a legal minimum wage. With the exception of foreign domestic helpers, workers in Hong Kong are not covered by minimum wage legislation.

Unionists pamphlet Legislative Councillors as the entered LegCo for the vote on the minimum wage bill.

The motion, which sought the creation of an independent commission that would work out a minimum wage system for the territory, was the third such motion put forward by Lee Cheuk-yan in LegCo.

Surveys conducted by HKCTU show that the wage gap is widening, with the number of workers earning less than HK$5,000 (US$641) per month increasing by 17.3% from 2000 to 2001. By the end of 2001, 114,500 workers earned less than HK$5,000 per month. Without a legal minimum wage, the wages of a growing number of workers are being pushed down. In contrast, the average annual salaries of senior executives of the 33 companies on the Hang Seng Index is HK$8.4 million (US$1.077 million).

Another survey by HKCTU showed that 68% of people in Hong Kong support the proposal for a minimum wage, 22% are opposed and 10% unsure.

Despite evidence that the lack of a minimum wage has allowed falling wage levels among workers and growing inequality, the motion was defeated. The Secretary for Education and Manpower, Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, rejected the minimum wage proposal on the grounds that there should be no interference in the free market. The problem, she claimed, is the "oversupply of workers."

Also see> The Right to a Minimum Wage