HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
509
I believe, about $8,000 to $9,000 a month. But for cleaning jobs that are contracted out, the lowest monthly wage I have seen is $2,300, which is lower, very much lower, than that of foreign domestic workers. As far as I know, the cleaning workers at Cha Kwo Ling Road even have to clear the sewers for the Sewage Department and their pay is only about $3,000 odd. We can see that while privatization can bring about instant economic benefit and cut the Urban Council's expenditure by contracting out the jobs, this kind of benefit is only short-term. Mr. James TIEN Pei-chun of the Liberal Party often talks about how Hong Kong is not competitive enough and says that if we do not import labour, local businesses will find it hard to survive. In my opinion, this is pulling up the bridge after crossing it. The boss simply abandons the workers after making a profit.
The SAR Government also expressed the wish, time and again, to import labour. It is true that importing labour can provide an immediate solution to the problem of shortage of workers in some areas. While this problem is being taken care of for the time being, another problem will ensue; that is, local workers will be deprived of fair wages. In my opinion, therefore, the economic benefit is for the short-term only. As we can see, if people in the low-income bracket have any financial difficulty, the basic livelihood in the lower classes will be affected. For instance, if their spending power is diminished, they will eat less at fast food establishments and restaurants and will even shop less. This will affect the business of food and retail establishments. If the workers have no spending power, their bosses will not be able to make any profit. I personally feel that the present weakness of our economic base is due, to a large extent, to our over emphasis on economic benefit in the past. That is why I hope you will give this matter some thought and when formulating policies in future, come up with a more balanced policy as far as economic benefit is concerned. We can, for example, reduce the number of cleaning jobs to be contracted out, re-employ local workers or determine what the minimum wage is when we contract out our work.
In fact, apart from economic benefit, we should also pay more attention to political benefit and social benefit.
The main concern of political benefit is stability; the main concern of social benefit is justice. If we do not have democracy and justice in society, the political society will be affected and our economy will, in turn, be affected. You probably noticed recently that a group of poor people in France, the birthplace of communism and socialism, staged a protest because they could not endure the hardship of poverty any longer. They stormed into the financial centres and created a disturbance. The current situation in Indonesia is pretty much the same. Ninety-nine percent of the population in Indonesia is poor. It is predicted that there will be unrest in Indonesia this year. That is why I hope that when we formulate our overall policy in future, we will promote democracy in politics and uphold social justice, bearing in mind the question of political and social benefits.
Page 514 of 654
Page 514 of 654
Page 514 of 654
Page 514 of 654
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
509
I believe, about $8,000 to $9,000 a month. But for cleaning jobs that are contracted out, the lowest monthly wage I have seen is $2,300, which is lower, very much lower, than that of foreign domestic workers. As far as I know, the cleaning workers at Cha Kwo Ling Road even have to clear the sewers for the Sewage Department and their pay is only about $3,000 odd. We can see that while privatization can bring about instant economic benefit and cut the Urban Council's expenditure by contracting out the jobs, this kind of benefit is only short-term. Mr. James TIEN Pei-chun of the Liberal Party often talks about how Hong Kong is not competitive enough and says that if we do not import labour, local businesses will find it hard to survive. In my opinion, this is Pulling up the bridge after crossing it. The boss simply abandons the workers after making a profit.
The SAR Government also expressed the wish, time and again, to import labour. It is true that importing labour can provide an immediate solution to the problem of shortage of workers in some areas. While this problem is being taken care of for the time being, another problem will ensue; that is, local workers will be deprived of fair wages. In my opinion, therefore, the economic benefit is for the short-term only. As we can see, if people in the low-income bracket have any financial difficulty, the basic livelihood in the lower classes will be affected. For instance, if their spending power is diminished, they will eat less at fast food establishments and restaurants and will even shop less. This will affect the business of food and retail establishments. If the workers have no spending power, their bosses will not be able to make any profit. I personally feel that the present weakness of our economic base is due, to a large extent, to our over emphasis on economic benefit in the past. That is why I hope you will give this matter some thought and when formulating policies in future, come up with a more balanced policy as far as economic benefit is concerned. We can, for example, reduce the number of cleaning jobs to be contracted out, re-employ local workers or determine what the minimum wage is when we contract out our work.
In fact, apart from economic benefit, we should also pay more attention to political benefit and social benefit.
The main concern of political benefit is stability; the main concern of social benefit is justice. If we do not have democracy and justice in society, the political society will be affected and our economy will, in turn, be affected. You probably noticed recently that a group of poor people in France, the birthplace of communism and socialism, staged a protest because they could not endure the hardship of poverty any longer. They stormed into the financial centres and created a disturbance. The current situation in Indonesia is pretty much the same. Ninety-nine percent of the population in Indonesia is poor. It is predicted that there will be unrest in Indonesia this year. That is why I hope that when we formulate our overall policy in future, we will promote democracy in politics and uphold social justice, bearing in mind the question of political and social benefits.
Page 514 of 654
Page 514 of 654
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