Wage restructuring is a painful process as it involves structural changes. It is not wage improvement but wage reform to make us more competitive.
In the process of the wage restructuring, the government, the management and the workers have to work closely to share the bliss and adversity together
Feedback from the ground is that though workers are prepared to stick together with the management through thick and thin, when it comes to the bliss, management is not that willing to share the bliss.
Workers in generally understand the disadvantage of our high production cost which includes the wage cost. They experienced it last year when we faced the threat of SARS. Many union leaders initiated the wage freeze and wage cut to save jobs. This is what we called to go through the thick and thin. Workers understand that as long as they can keep the job with the basic pay which can cover their basic needs, they are prepared to share the adversity with the management.
The recommendations by the wage restructuring committee are not new. In the 50s and 60s when my father was employed, I knew that his take home pay was just enough to cover our basic needs. We knew that at the end of the year, if the company made good profit and if the employees’ performed well, he would get big bonus, to the range of few months or even more.
In fact, in the process of wage restructuring, the problems we faced are that companies are not transparent enough; the performance appraisal system is not opened enough and the management system is not sound enough. As a result, when it comes to wage restructuring, we can only see the downside but not the upside. Thus, workers’ perception is that wage restructuring means wage cut. We should have both the downside and the upside.
I hope the SWAT team formed as a result of the wage restructuring committee can help companies instill a sound communications channel and at the same time, instill this spirit of sharing the bliss and adversity together.
To conclude, I must say that my observation is that those unionized companies move faster in their wage restructuring as they have the union to work together with. Those non-unionized companies move slowly as the management are adopting the wait and see attitude.
