The KCRC has been urged to help improve the welfare of contracted cleaners on the West Rail network.
The plea came after reports that 120 workers had been earning only $3,600 a month since September, nearly 30 per cent below the government's minimum level.
About a dozen members of the Confederation of Trade Unions and cleaning service workers protested at West Rail's Kam Tin headquarters yesterday.
CTU organising secretary Fung Kai-yuen accused the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation of failing to follow government guidelines on the tender for new service contracts. The guidelines say that a tender offer cannot be considered if the monthly wage offered to unskilled workers is less than the average monthly wage as stated in the latest quarterly report of the Census and Statistics Department on wages and payrolls.
According to the department's March 2004 report, three months before the tender for the West Rail cleaning contract was signed, the average monthly wage for a cleaner who worked nine hours a day and 26 days a month was $5,060.
The guideline also requires a monitoring mechanism to regularly check wages and attendance records, and interview workers.