bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Martin Wong

Commissions topped up but basic salaries unchanged
Nestle drivers and delivery workers ended a three-day-old strike yesterday after management offered to  increase commission payments.
After five rounds of unsuccessful negotiations since Sunday, the 100 workers and Nestle management finally reached a consensus early yesterday morning.
Drivers delivering ice cream will see commissions rise 5.9 per cent to HK$46 for every HK$10,000 worth of product delivered. Commissions for ice cream delivery workers will rise 8.1 per cent to HK$36 for every HK$10,000 worth of product.
Workers handling other dairy products will see their commissions rise by 6.5 per cent.
Basic salaries will remain unchanged. The workers had also demanded 7 per cent pay rises.
Cheung Chung-yin, a representative of the drivers and delivery workers, said he was not satisfied.
'There is a distance between the new offer and the initial demand proposed by our side,' he said. 'But the company has shown its sincerity in making a deal with us.'
He said the workers had initially demanded commission payments of HK$50 for drivers and HK$42 for  delivery workers.
Chan Pong-yin,  another workers' representative, said they had  resumed work because the company had made a first step in meeting their needs.
'But I hope the company can promise us it will follow up on other questions like changing our basic salary,' he said.
Mr Cheung and Mr Chan said they would earn HK$700 to HK$900 more a month because of the commission increases. They also said talks on the basic salary level would be held by the end of this year.
Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) organising co-ordinator Mung Siu-tat  estimated the strike had cost Nestle more than HK$10 million.
Hans-Peter Edelbluth,  the head of Nestle's great China region ice cream and chilled business unit, said ice cream and chilled products sales were down a little. While he did not confirm  workers' claims that Nestle management had threatened during the negotiation to pull the company out of Hong Kong if the strike continued, he said no decision to leave the city had been made.
Meanwhile, an industrial dispute at distilled water provider Jackel Porter  was resolved in five hours yesterday. About 50 drivers and delivery workers went on strike at 8.30am yesterday as representatives held a meeting with management.
Deliveries of bottles of the company's Aqua-Tek  distilled water were halted to offices and some hospitals. However, they resumed after 1.30pm, when the CTU and the company's president said a pay-rise deal had been reached. CTU organising secretary Wong Yu-loy  said workers were satisfied with the new salary package. He refused to detail the size of the increase.
'We have promised the company not to reveal the raise,' he said. 'What I can say is that the percentage is higher than the inflation rate.'
Company president Dickie Ho  thanked the workers.
'I am very thankful as workers were calm during the meeting,' he said.
'They were not agitated and were very considerate to my situation. Both sides were sincere and there was no conflict. I would say it is a win-win situation.'



Nestle drivers, delivery workers win pay deal