However, he said the most effective action would be similar to a walkout on September 17, when a proposed 10 per cent across-the-board pay cut was first proposed.

More than 2,000 signatures were collected among the 13,500 workers yesterday and will be passed to the company at its Quarry Bay headquarters.

The petition demands no wage cuts, no layoffs and no reduction of fringe benefits.

Cheung Pak-chi, chairman of the Cable and Wireless staff association, said: 'We have collected the signatures in the course of the past two weeks.' He said workers did not want share options, which the company has suggested, if the firm was willing to abandon the plan.

Ip Kwok-him, chairman of the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited Staff Association, said the three unions were prepared to fight on indefinitely.

The Joint Staff Council, the only body the company recognises, has backtracked from an initial position of support for the proposal but has not considered industrial action.

Linking the bonus to profits was unreasonable, said council co-ordinator Lai Man-wai.

The Acting Commissioner of Labour, Lee Kai-fat, said the department would monitor the progress of negotiations, but would not investigate any alleged breach of the labour ordinance until the proposal became definite.

On Monday, Telecom proposed pegging the year-end bonus to operating profits with no payment if they rose less than three per cent.

Staff would receive half a month's basic salary in bonuses if operating profits grew by three to five per cent, a one-month bonus if they were greater than five per cent and 1.5 months for 12 per cent growth or more.