Hong Kong passed a minimum wage law yesterday, a rare departure from the wealthy Chinese financial hub's free-market philosophy that union leaders hailed as a victory for the territory's underpaid working class.
Hong Kong legislator and union organizer Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) called the vote a historic moment requiring the Hong Kong government to set a minimum wage for the first time in the city's history.
“This symbolizes that Hong Kong has said goodbye to shameful wages and embraced social justice for workers. This means goodbye to unfettered capitalism,” Lee said.
However, the law does not cover the nearly 280,000 mostly Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers who work as live-in help for Hong Kong families. They are currently promised a monthly minimum wage of HK$3,580 (US$450).
China decided to preserve Hong Kong's capitalist system when Britain returned the territory in 1997. The Beijing-appointed government continued to resist a minimum wage in the name of keeping labor markets free.
Under pressure to address the city’s widening rich-poor gap after a voluntary wage protection initiative failed, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) in 2008 reversed government policy and started efforts to introduce a minimum wage, culminating in yesterday's law.
Although Lee praised the law backed by pro-business legislators, he said it was highly limited, leaving much discretion in the hands of the territory's chief executive, who is traditionally allied with the business community.
The Hong Kong chief executive is empowered to recommend a minimum wage level, which the legislature can approve or reject but can't amend.
Once the level is set, the law requires the wage level to be reviewed every two years — instead of the annual review demanded by unionists.
The Hong Kong administration excluded the nearly 280,000 mostly Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers on the grounds that it is difficult to calculate their work hours given the round-the-clock nature of their jobs, also noting that they are promised benefits like housing, food, medical care and free travel to their home countries.
Any minimum wage law “must balance the interests of every party,” Hong Kong Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung (張建宗) told legislators yesterday.
Tsang will propose the first minimum wage level in November, Cheung said. The current consensus ranges from the HK$24 (US$3) an hour backed by business interests to the HK$33 (US$4) demanded by local unions — about the average price of a fast-food meal and still low in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The minimum wage in the US is US$7.25; in Britain, it's £5.80 (US$9); in Canada, it ranges from C$8 to C$10.25 (US$7.60 to US$9.70) depending on province; in New Zealand, it is NZ$12.75 (US$9).
Hong Kong is one of the world's richest territories with a 2008 per capita GDP of US$30,863, but is also among the most stratified economies. It came last in income equality among 38 countries and territories in last year's UN Development Programme’s Human Development Report.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat