Pay complaint flood feared

UNIONS are expecting a flood of inquiries from worried workers as Telecom's move to cut salaries affects other companies.

'We fear this move by Hongkong Telecom will have a bad social impact and other smaller companies will also do this,' legislator and Confederation of Trade Unions general secretary Lee Cheuk-yan said.

The confederation had received about 900 calls from workers complaining about pay problems so far this year - four times the number received for the whole of last year.

'Workers have been telling us that employers are trying to either cut their wages or increase their workload and we fear thousands more will be affected in the coming months,' he said.

Unions fear thousands will be forced to accept lower pay as employers follow Telecom's lead.

Mr Lee urged the Government to reintroduce a bill on collective bargaining to protect workers.