Last updated at 6.25pm: Pro-democracy unionists will boycott Labour Day celebrations at Government House on Tuesday to protest over ''insufficient'' protection for local workers. Instead, they will hold a rally in Wan Chai on Tuesday afternoon to voice their discontent, the Confederation of Trade Unions said on Monday, as labour groups announced the findings of research showing legal protection for SAR workers lagged behind much of the rest of Asia. The union's general secretary and legislator Lee Cheuk-yan said he and his union colleagues found it extremely hard to celebrate Labour Day at a time when the workers' situation in Hong Kong had been deteriorating. Lending force to their arguement, the results of research conducted last month by the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions showed local workers are deprived of basic legal protection offered in other Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and the mainland. Citing the lack of laws on continuous contracts, minimum wages, collective bargaining, and unreasonable lay-offs, the two bodies argued that Hong Kong's economic development would be seriously hindered if changes did not take place soon. ''Although the Government and the business sector have always been opposed to the establishment of minimum wage, they must realise that this [attitude] will dampen Hong Kong's economic development,'' Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council's chairman Lee Kwok-keung said. ''Hong Kong is changing to a technology-based economy and therefore, developing company loyalty is vital to future development,'' he added. Mr Lee emphasised that the slow development of labour protection laws would only lead to higher employee turnover and lower productivity. Furthermore he added that certain labour requirements in the labour ordinance, such as the fact that a worker must work for 18 hours a week consecutively for four weeks before he is entitled to any labour protection, were fundamentally unfair. The Union Council plans to appeal to the Equal Opportunities Commission regarding such inequalities in the Employment Ordinance in the near future. They will raise their concerns and propose a series of recommendations to the Chief Executive tomorrow. Also on Tuesday, about 60 pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions members also marched on Government headquarters to demand changes to the definition of ''continuous contract of employment'' in the Employment Ordinance It handed in about 20,000 public signatures collected over the weekend support its call for a relaxation so that another 100,000 part-time and temporary workers could benefit.