Jat Sew-tong in the minimum-wage hot seat
Jat Sew-tong juggles multiple public-service roles, none of them trickier than leading the panel that sets the rate for the minimum wage
When Jat Sew-tong was made chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission in February last year, reaction was mixed.
On the one hand, it was logical for a senior counsel with years of experience serving independent bodies, such as the Independent Police Complaints Council, to take another role in public office.
On the other, workers' groups still remember Jat warning against the adverse impact of a minimum wage law, while representing the government in a judicial review.
More than 18 months later, the jury's still out. While the 46-year-old has won the applause of commission members for showing impartiality in his work, some unionists grumble that he has not allowed the commission enough time to review the minimum wage level.
Last Tuesday, commission members reached a consensus that the level should rise from HK$28 to HK$30 an hour. This proposal will soon go through the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, before coming into effect.
Back in 2007, Jat represented the government in a landmark judicial review into whether the government's refusal to implement minimum wage law was constitutional.
The review was launched by cleaner Chan Noi-heung, 51, who claimed to be paid so little working for a bus company contractor, in such bad conditions, that the chief executive should have used section 2(1) of the Trade Boards Ordinance to establish a minimum wage.