A government pledge to speed up infrastructure projects triggered the action by metalworkers, who saw it as a chance to demand more money after going years without a pay rise, a union leader said yesterday.
Lam Kwok-ning, secretary of the Construction Industry Employees General Union, said among construction workers, metalworkers had suffered the most since the handover because, unlike electricians and pipe menders, who could find work in flats and offices, they could only find jobs on construction sites.
According to Census and Statistics figures, the daily wage of metalworkers on public sites dwindled from a peak of HK$1,309 a day in 2002 to HK$1,135 this year.
But variations were greater in the private sector and among different types of workers, Mr Lam said.
'Most of them are paid between HK$700 and HK$800 a day - some can go as low as HK$500,' he said.
Once a contractor, Mr Lam said it was the employers, not the workers, who had proposed the pay rise.
'A few private projects are starting later this year,' he said.