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Restaurant folds owing $1.3m to 80 workers

A restaurant in Shau Kei Wan closed without warning yesterday, leaving 80 workers owed about $1.3 million in unpaid wages.

Workers arrived at the 21/2-year-old Ying Fook Seafood Restaurant at 6am and found the doors locked. Several workers called the Eating Establishment Employees General Union for help. The union said the restaurant had failed to pay its staff for more than two months, with arrears amounting to $1.3 million.

The Labour Department said 63 workers had registered with it so far. The department would try to contact the owners to claim the unpaid salaries. The case might be taken to the Labour Tribunal.

Unionist legislator Leung Yiu-chung warned that more restaurants might be forced to close partly due to huge rent rises.

'Some [restaurants] ... cannot sustain themselves because of drastic rises in rents since last year. Also, most Chinese restaurants rely heavily on revenue from running wedding banquets but summer is a low season for marriage,' Mr Leung said.

Legislator Tommy Cheung Yu-yan had warned earlier that the introduction of the five-day work week might hurt the catering industry because more people were likely to spend their weekends across the border.

Jeffery Tam Chun-kit, chairman of the Hong Kong Bars and Karaoke Rights Advocacy, said some restaurants now faced soaring rents and closure.

Up to the end of April, the department had issued 36 summonses against restaurants that had failed to pay salaries. It issued 114 summonses last year.

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