May Day protesters rally for higher pay

They also seek better working conditions.

Groups of protestors marched in Hong Kong on May 1 in support of the International Day of Labor.

Close to 3,000 persons joined a protest organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions demanding the introduction of standard working hours, a universal retirement scheme and an annual review of the minimum wage level.

A 7% hike in the minimum wage to HK$30 (US$3.90) an hour took effect May 1. The adjusted statutory minimum wage could benefit some 223,000 workers.

Hong Kong, whose residential and commercial property prices are among the most expensive in the world, introduced a minimum wage only in May 2011.

Prof Joseph Cheng from the City University of Hong Kong, however, believes the minimum wage hike is “. . . too little, too late.”

He noted that big businesses to a large extent still have a lot of say in fixing the minimum wage, and the rate of minimum wage is certainly far from satisfactory.

“The container ports are in the hands of at most three or four major operators. These major operators, they also have vested interests in the container ports inside mainland China and through the outsourcing processes, they have been trying to keep wages low,” he said.

Also protesting were domestic helpers that make up the largest proportion of migrant workers in Hong Kong who rallied for equitable pay, a pension scheme and against excessive agency fees.

Many protestors came out in support of the strike by some 450 contract dock workers, against one of the main port operators, Hutchison International Terminals, controlled by billionaire Li Ka-Shing. The dock workers are fighting for better pay and working conditions.

Negotiations are still ongoing and the Union of Hong Kong Dockers has rejected an offer of a 7% pay rise.

The strike has also put the spotlight on Hong Kong's growing wealth gap. Government figures show the poor are slightly less poor than a decade ago but the rich are a lot richer.

May 1 is a national holiday in some 80 countries around the world. Its ties to labor advocacy can be traced to 1886 when American police killed 10 protestors rallying for an eight-hour workday in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. May 1 was declared it a day of commemoration and labor action soon after.