A construction union staged a protest at Tung Chee-hwa's office yesterday to counter claims the SAR needs to remedy its shortage of building workers with more imported labourers.
The Construction Industry Employees' General Union said Hong Kong received enough mainland construction workers to fill the gap.
It said 1,500 mainlanders already joined the construction industry each year, representing eight per cent of the yearly total of immigrants from China.
The protest was prompted by calls by the Hong Kong Construction Association for more workers to be brought in.
In late July, the association said it expected a shortage of 9,857 workers from 1996 to 1998. Earlier this month, it said more than 11,000 extra overseas workers would be needed.
But the union said the association had given false figures. 'It's questionable where they got these figures from,' said union chairman Poon To-chuen.
