Legislator Leung Kwok-hung vowed to take a minimum wage case to the city's top court yesterday after he lost an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Chief Judge of the High Court Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, Court of Appeal vice-president Mr Justice Robert Tang Ching and Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon ruled the government had no legal obligation to fix the problem of 'unreasonably low wages' and that the Trade Boards Ordinance was a discretionary law.
Mr Leung had appealed against the dismissal of his application for a judicial review of the government's refusal to consider implementing a minimum wage. Speaking outside court, he said: 'I am very disappointed to lose this case. It seems the judges do not understand there are 1.3 million people in the city paid very low wages.
'I will raise money to fund an appeal in the Court of Final Appeal. It will take too long if the government considers it can slow down its pace in implementing the minimum wage on the basis of this judgment.'
Mr Justice Ma also said Mr Leung had failed to prove his case that the government intended to renounce the ordinance, although the government had not applied it to the problem of low wages.
'The policy and objects of the Trade Boards Ordinance are evident; to deal with the problem of unreasonably low wages,' he ruled. 'But, the discretion in [the government] to tackle the problem is a wide one.'
