Scaffolding workers to be given 11pc pay increase
The city's real-life spidermen - scaffolding workers - are to receive an 11 per cent pay rise from next month, thanks to the construction boom which has pushed up demand for site workers.
The increase, agreed by the trade association and union, is the biggest since 1997 and will see scaffolding workers paid around HK$1,000 for an eight-hour day, up from the current HK$900.
Assuming 20 days of work a month, a scaffolder can earn HK$20,000 - comparable to that of a management trainee.
The construction sector yesterday said it hoped the pay adjustment would attract more young people to the trade to ease the labour shortage and solve the problem of an ageing workforce.
Contractors have also complained of shortages of bar benders, carpenters and drainage and metal framework workers. Bar benders are being paid HK$1,250 a day, but there is still a shortage of around 1,500.
The Hong Kong Construction Association, which represents about 300 contractors, expected labour costs to keep rising but hoped this could attract higher quality and younger workers. The association said it had no plans to consider importing cheap labour.
'The association is of the view that, from the perspective of human resources, wages will continue going up according to the market demand in the coming 10 years when Hong Kong will see a construction boom.
It is conducive to attracting more new blood to the sector,' the association said in a statement.
Association secretary general Thomas Tse Che-wah added: 'We are positive [about the pay rise]. Labour costs are not a very big problem. Contractors will take into account possible pay rises when doing estimates or tenders.'
Labour costs account for 30 to 40 per cent of the overall development costs, the association says. What really matters is the cost of building materials.
The government has tried to boost the economy by investing in infrastructure developments. Capital works spending rose substantially from HK$20.5 billion in 2007-08 to HK$49.6 billion in 2010-11. The estimated capital works spending for 2011-12 will reach a record high of more than HK$58 billion.
Ten major infrastructure projects, announced by the chief executive in 2007, are being rolled out.
Of these, work has begun on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link and the Kai Tak development. Railway construction work on the South Island Line (East) and Sha Tin-Central Link is expected to start this year and in 2012, respectively.
Ho Yiu-sum who has been a bamboo scaffolding worker for 20 years, however, was upset by the extent of the wage increase.
'No matter how much more they pay, it's not going to cover our loss - eroded by inflation in the past 10 years.
'Property prices now are far higher than the level before 1997, there's no reason why we don't deserve to have a pay rise in the future,' Ho said.
Chow Luen-kiu, of the Construction Industry Employees General Union, said a more significant rise would be needed to attract new blood to ease the problem of ageing workers the sector was facing.
400
The number of the city's 4,000 registered scaffolding workers who are under the age of 30
- 40 per cent are 50 or older
