Samson Lee
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Workers at a lift maintenance company threatened to escalate their strike action today after talks ended in deadlock.
About 70 workers at ThyssenKrupp Elevator, representing 80 percent of the maintenance staff, went on strike yesterday seeking a 20 percent pay rise, and claiming overwork poses health risks to employees and safety risks to the public.
About 40 workers also staged a protest outside the office of the German giant in Hung Hom. The company maintains about 1,800 lifts and escalators in 600 buildings including the Hong Kong police headquarters, Sunshine City Plaza and Empire Hotel Kowloon as well as the Mid-Levels escalator from Central to Caine Road.
After a two-hour meeting with managers, workers' representative Mok Yun-chuen said talks were deadlocked as the company would not commit to a salary rise percentage. "If it still does not make any promise [today], we may escalate our action including not turning out when people are trapped in lifts," he said.
According to Mok, the company said no promises could be made as its decision maker was not in Hong Kong.
Neighborhood and Worker's Service Centre secretary general Leung Kam-wai said many workers are underpaid and some have not had pay rises for several years. He said those with four to 10 years' experience earn HK$8,000 to HK$9,000 a month while other firms pay around HK$12,000.
A worker who joined the protest said: "I have been working at the company for nearly eight years. But my [monthly] salary is still at the low level of HK$7,000. When I first joined, the salary was HK$6,400."
Leung said many have to work 33-hour shifts to earn a decent wage. He also said due to lack of manpower, workers sometimes do maintenance alone. He urged the company to ensure that at least two workers are on duty at any one time. The union said workers only got a 3 percent pay rise early this year - not even enough to cover inflation.
A ThyssenKrupp Elevator spokesman said the firm will adjust salaries on January 1 and urged all employees to return to work. He said workers get an annual salary review that includes changes in the cost of living, performance of the business as a whole and individual performance.
A resident of a building in Tung Yuk Court in Shau Kei Wan expressed her concern as the lifts there are maintained by the company.
"I am quite worried because my flat is on the 21st floor," she said.
In 2008, an empty lift in Tai Po managed by the company plunged 14 floors after seven of its eight cables failed.
Below is a sample letter for your reference:
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Dear Mr. Guenther Rittner / Mr. Peter Walker,
I hereby write to you to support for the union strike. I fully support the three demands by the Thyssen Elevator Staff Union and I urge you to response their requests immediately.
Yours sincerely,
Your name & your organization
Their contacts are as follows:
Mr. Guenther Rittner
Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Elevator HK Limited
Tel: +852 3181 7888 Fax: +852 2861 2521
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Peter Walker
CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Asia/Pacific) Limited
Tel: +852 3511 0688 Fax: +852 3511 0678
Email: [email protected]
The Chairman of the Executive Board is Dr. -Ing. Heinrich Hiesinger,
P.O. Box, 45063 Essen,
Phone: +49 201 844 0 ,
Fax: +49 201 844 536000
and email: [email protected]
Below is the Urgent appeal & statement from Thyssen Workers
26th September, 2011
To ThyssenKrupp Elevator (HK) Limited,
Work 33 hours a Day? No More Toleration! Strike and Get What We Deserve! Fight for Reasonable Pay and Secure Public Safety
ThyssenKrupp Elevator (HK) Limited is one of the three biggest elevator production company in the world and the sales record was 5.2 billion euro last year. While the company earns tremendous amount of money, she fails to treat her workers fairly.
During past few years, inflation erodes what workers can benefit from the enforcement of the statutory minimum wage. However, what we get is even worse than average workers in Hong Kong. Our salary has only increased by 0.5% in 2010 and 3% in 2011.
Generally in elevator maintenance industry, the salary of a newly-admitted assistant technician is 8500 HK dollars per month, while that for 4-to-10-year experience technician and 10-year experience technician are 12000 dollars and 14000 dollars respectively. Yet our salary is much lower than the average standard. A worker with 8-year experience only gets 7100 dollars per month. On the other hand, a newly-hired technician can get 8500 dollars. It is simply unfair. The company knows she can only compete for other company by increasing the salary for the new-comers, but this amounts to exploitation to the current workers who work so hard for the company.
As an elevator maintenance technician, our job is to ensure smooth operation of the elevator so that the people can use it safely. If we can work in pairs, not only the maintenance can be operated more smoothly, the working safety of workers can also be ensured. The company fails to enforce the labour law, since we often have to work alone, which tremendously increase the danger of operation. Three years ago, the company promised to increase workforce so as to enforce what labour law requires. Nevertheless, the company fails to do so and the problem persists.
As there is not enough workforce, we have to work overtime at night in case of any emergency. We also work to get overtime pay to compensate for the extremely low salary. As the company will not compensate a full-pay leave for our overtime work, we have to work continuously for 33 hours if we have to be on duty at night shift. This obviously threatens our health. What’s worse, this adversely affect the quality of services provided and may mean an increase of chance of elevator operation
problem, which may in turn increase the chance of accident and impede public safety.
We strike to get what we deserve and a reasonable pay. We also fight for the safety of ourselves and of our society. Belows are our demands:
1. Increase salary to a reasonable level
2. Increase the number of workforce and make sure we can work in pairs
3. Limit the working hours to less than 24 hours without lowering the salary
Thyssen Elevator Staff Union
Contact: Mr. Simon Leung (Union Organizer / 6443 5090), Mr. Cheng (Union Representative / 9833 5737)