Companies earning bumper profits should reward their workers with pay rises of 7 per cent to 8 per cent next year, a union says.
Led by lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, the Confederation of Trade Unions is determined to drive a hard bargain with bosses.
In October, the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong said pay rises should generally be capped at 2.5 per cent next year in view of dimmer economic prospects.
'The wealth gap is bound to widen further if conglomerates continue to suppress wage growth even amid robust economic growth,' Mr Lee said. 'Lagging behind inflation, the pay rise suggested by the Employers' Federation equals a pay cut.'
In a study of 40 large listed firms, the confederation found they made a combined HK$670 billion after tax last year. HSBC tops the list with HK$92.3 billion, followed by Swire Pacific with HK$22.7 billion and Hutchison Whampoa with HK$22.6 billion.
HSBC's after-tax profits rose 19.6 per cent year on year while Hutchison's surged 67.4 per cent, the confederation said.
Mr Lee said the 7 per cent to 8 per cent pay rise figure was derived from calculating several factors: a forecast 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent economic growth, a 3 per cent inflation rate and a 2 per cent growth of the workforce.
