Actually you are wrong. It is just that WE can't get it right. Staff unions of company like Watsons Water and some other local companies have gone on strike before and basically got what they wanted. Remember when the construction workers in HK all stopped working a while back? They got pretty much the pay rises they all demanded.
The South China Morning Post
Unions push for bigger pay rises
Anita Lam
Updated on Nov 01, 2010
Unions are pressing for larger pay rises in the coming year after a study found profits at some of the city's key employers increased sixfold in the first six months from a year ago.
The Confederation of Trade Unions and a dozen of its affiliates, including cabin crew and pilots from Cathay Pacific, demanded a 7 per cent pay rise - more than double the 2.5 to 3.5 per cent proposed by the Employers' Federation.
Mung Siu-tat, of the CTU, said that for most companies a 7 per cent pay rise for staff would amount to less than 6 per cent of their profits.
Cathay Pacific topped the list of the most profitable companies in the first half, according to the CTU study. Earnings at New World Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hang Lung Properties and Swire Pacific doubled or tripled in the first six months, the CTU said.
But Cathay posted profit of HK$70 billion in the first half - more than six times the HK$921 million it made in the same period last year.
"It's all lies if employers continue to blame small pay rises on economic uncertainties. They made so much money but will only give their staff the crumbs - this will only lead to more labour disputes," Mung said.
The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, Cathay's pilots' union, is seeking members' views on work-to-rule action in the run-up to Christmas and the Lunar New Year holidays if the airline does not yield to their demand for pay rises averaging 30 per cent over the next three years.
"It will cost just HK$8 more for each ticket - less than a coffee's worth at McDonald's," John Findlay, the association's assistant general secretary, said.
Bus drivers, delivery workers, security guards, school cleaners and telecommunications workers are all demanding the 7 per cent pay rise. Watson's bottled water delivery workers threatened industrial action if their demands were not met.
Lee Cheuk-yan, legislator and the CTU's founder, said it was a reasonable request. Lee said the gross domestic product of the city's workforce per capita rose 4.5 per cent this year, and with an inflation rate of 2 to 3 per cent a year, workers should be offered a 7.1 per cent pay rise.
The union said it would step up its campaign in the next two months to raise awareness among low-paid workers of their rights in case employers tried to cut benefits to cancel out pay rises.
Cafe de Coral came under fire last month after offering staff a pay rise of more than 10 per cent but then withdrawing free meals, which ultimately reduced their monthly salaries.