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Letters | Hong Kong failing frontline Covid workers by freezing minimum wage
- We should not be sacrificing our poorest and most vulnerable
- This is especially egregious when we consider the many rounds of economic assistance disbursed to businesses
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I refer to your report on the Hong Kong government deciding last month to freeze the hourly minimum wage (“Hong Kong’s minimum wage to remain unchanged at HK$37.50 an hour”, February 2). The government said it was justified in freezing the statutory wage, as the struggling economy continues to be battered by the coronavirus pandemic. While the government is implementing more economic measures or loan schemes to improve livelihoods, freezing the pay once again of some of the lowest-paid Hongkongers is unreasonable.
Worse still, many of these workers, including cleaners, have been on the front lines in the city’s fight against Covid-19. Their contributions cannot be forgotten by society.
In times of distress, we should not be sacrificing our poorest and most vulnerable. Such an attitude becomes especially egregious when we consider the many rounds of economic assistance disbursed to businesses, and reports of how some of them absorbed a portion of wage subsidies without sharing them with workers.
It is not hard to see that the lowest-paid need are in need of the most help as the economy falters. The government should put more effort into reducing the gap between the rich and poor. Freezing the minimum wage at the same level for four years is not the way to go about this.
Yiu Tsoi Ying, Tsuen Wan
Rather than handouts, review the minimum wage
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