Union warns of industrial action if support staff at Hong Kong’s public hospitals do not get 12 per cent pay rise in line with proposed increase for new recruits
- Pay rise to lure new blood has infuriated current workers and affected morale, Hong Kong Medical and Health Care Staff General Union says
- A worker in a certain pay grade with 10 years’ experience will earn just HK$561 more than a new recruit under plan, it says
Some 10,000 health care support staff at public hospitals in Hong Kong could go on strike if they do not get a pay rise of at least 12 per cent at all levels, a union leader has warned.
The demand came as the union held a protest on Monday, attended by around 70 patient care assistants, to call for similar wage rises for new recruits and experienced workers.
A source at the Hospital Authority, which manages the city’s public hospitals, said last week that it would implement a 9 to 14 per cent increase next month in starting salaries of new support staff such as patient care assistants to attract workers.
However, the Hong Kong Medical and Health Care Staff General Union said under the new arrangement a worker in a certain pay grade with 10 years’ experience would earn just HK$561 more than a new recruit.
“The authority decided to raise the salary for newcomers because it knows our job is stressful and undesirable, but it forgot that current colleagues are doing the same job and facing the same stress and difficulties,” union member Yeung Yee-mui said.