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The Labour Advisory Board (LAB) yesterday wound up a meeting with employers and employees vastly divided over whether Hong Kong should introduce a statutory minimum wage for cleansing and security workers.

The meeting was convened to review the progress of the Wage Protection Movement the government launched a year ago to protect labour rights of employees in the cleansing and guarding services sectors.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang had voiced the government's intention to begin minimum wage legislation should the movement end up in failure.

At yesterday's meeting, employers said the movement is reasonably successful and therefore there is no need for a statutory minimum wage.

The government yesterday did not give any comments on whether or not the movement is a success.

Stanley Lau, an LAB member representing the employers, gave a positive assessment of the movement, saying workers' wages were on the rise during the past 10 months.

Although only 1,041 companies have joined the movement, it did not mean the rest of the employers do not support the movement as they are in fact paying the average market wage, said Lau.

"We should let the wage level to fluctuate with the economy."

Paul Yin, another member speaking on behalf of the employers, said a statutory minimum wage is tantamount to market intervention, urging the government to protect Hong Kong's business environment.

But the movement was deemed unsuccessful in the eyes of Leung Chau-ting and Ip Wai-ming, LAB members representing the employees.

They pointed to the fact that only one-third of the cleansing and security workers (excluding those hired by the government) had secured median market wages. "The movement can only be declared a success when 80-90 percent of the workers are covered," said Leung. "The government should commence pre-legislation work immediately."

After the meeting, Commission for Labour cum LAB chairman Cherry Tse said all participating parties agreed to carry on with the movement.

It was also agreed that pre-legislation work be commenced to study the wage level and definition of security and cleansing workers, and look for ways to help the disadvantaged groups.

"The interim review only deals with the progress of the movement and we will deliver a conclusive report next year," Tse said in reply to whether there is any criteria to measure the success of the movement.

According to the Census and Statistics Department, 1,041 companies have joined the movement by the end of September this year.

(HK Edition 10/31/2007 page6)