XN000022-1986-05-14 — Page 9

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1986

WAGE CEILING RAISED TO $10 500

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A MOTION TO RAISE THE WAGE CEILING UNDER THE EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE FROM $9 500 TO $10 500 WAS PASSED IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

MOVING THE MOTION, THE SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER, THE HON NEIL HENDERSON, SAID WHEN THE EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE WAS ENACTED IN SEPTEMBER 1968, ITS PROVISIONS WERE APPLIED TO NON-MANUAL EMPLOYEES WHOSE WAGES DID NOT EXCEED $1 500 PER MONTH.

+SINCE THEN, THIS WAGE CEILING HAS BEEN REVISED PERIODICALLY TO MAINTAIN ITS ORIGINAL VALUE, HE SAID.

+ THE MOST RECENT REVISION WAS IN DECEMBER 1984, WHEN THE CEILING WAS RAISED TO $9 500.+

MR HENDERSON SAID A RECENT REVIEW BY THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT HAD INDICATED THAT THE ORIGINAL MONTHLY WAGE OF $1 500 WOULD BE EQUIVALENT TO AN ESTIMATED MONTHLY WAGE OF $10 214 IN DECEMBER 1985.

AFTER SLIGHTLY ROUNDING UP THE FIGURE TO ALLOW FOR A LIKELY RISE IN THE OVERALL WAGE LEVEL BEFORE THE NEXT REVISION, IT WAS PROPOSED THAT THE WAGE CEILING BE RAISED TO $10 500 PER MONTH.

THIS PROPOSAL HAD RECEIVED THE UNANIMOUS SUPPORT OF THE LABOUR ADVISORY BOARD, MR HENDERSON SAID.

NUMBER OF SQUATTER FIRE VICTIMS DECLINING ****

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE MADE HOMELESS IN SQUATTER FIRES HAS DECLINED DRAMATICALLY IN THE PAST THREE YEARS ALTHOUGH THERE WERE MORE REPORTED FIRES OF A RELATIVELY MINOR NATURE, THE SECRETARY FOR DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION, THE HON DONALD LIAO, TOLD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

MORE THAN 85 PER CENT OF SUCH FIRES WERE EXTINGUISHED BY INITIAL ATTENDANCE AND THERE WERE ONLY ONE FOURTH ALARM FIRE IN 1983, 1984 AND 1985 COMPARED TO FIVE IN 1981 AND 1982, HE SAID.

IN REPLY TO QUESTIONS FROM THE HON CHAN YING-LUN, MR LIAO SAID THAT WHILE DATA ON THE CAUSES OF FIRES WERE AVAILABLE, IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE FROM AN EXAMINATION OF SUCH

INFORMATION AS TO WHY THE NUMBER OF SQUATTER FIRES HAD INCREASED CR DECREASED DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS,

/+THE NUMBERS