Court grants hearing in minimum wage battle
A judge has accepted an application for a judicial review of the government's refusal to introduce minimum wage legislation.
Mr Justice Michael Hartmann granted leave for the application filed by 51-year-old cleaner Chan Noi-heung, and legislators Leung Yiu-chung and 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, to be heard.
The applicants want the Court of First Instance to reverse Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's decision to rely on the co-operation of employers to set minimum wages, rather than legislate.
Leung Yiu-chung said he would accompany Ms Chan to apply for legal aid today and hoped for a speedy hearing.
'It's highly likely that the Legal Aid Department will grant the legal aid because the judge has already granted leave [for the case] and the applicant's financial status matches the criteria under which legal aid is granted,' the legislator said.
'When the case is heard in court, it will raise awareness not only about the enactment of legislation on a minimum wage but also whether the government has failed to act under the Trade Boards Ordinance, enacted in 1940, to legislate on minimum wage for trade.'
The fact that the judge had granted leave so soon after the application for judicial review was filed could be seen as recognition the issue was of huge public interest, the legislator said.
In the writ filed by the applicants on Monday, Ms Chan, who works for a Kowloon Motor Bus contractor, claimed her salary was so low and work conditions so poor that the chief executive should use powers conferred on him by the ordinance to establish minimum conditions and pay for her industry.
She earns HK$3,400 a month for a 10-hour day and has only four days off.
The ordinance states its purpose is 'to provide machinery for fixing minimum wages, determining normal working hours, and fixing overtime rates in trades where the wage standards are unreasonably low'.
