It is indeed a sad and frustrating carol sent by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce two days before Christmas that has sparked a surge of fury and disappointment in the city. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce warned that the forthcoming controversial minimum wage might cost up to 152,000 jobs lost, which is entirely provocative and scare mongering.

The 140-year-old Hong Kong-based leading chamber consisting mainly of major consortia and business enterprises sent a warning throughout society about the perils of setting a minimum wage considerably higher than the present prevailing rate. However, the projected forecast of possible jobs lost conveyed a picture of gloom and doom for the city's workforce. It is unconvincing to trust such a subjective and unrealistic forecast.

The chamber's negative tone came prior to Wednesday's meeting with the Provisional Commission on Minimum Wage. When the Commission strives to listen to all stakeholders for setting an appropriate minimum wage without causing massive redundancy or impeding the local economy and competitiveness, the leading chamber cold-showers the feasibility of implementing a minimum wage in the city.

The chamber has geared up its efforts to tarnish the minimum wage. The chamber's executive director Alex Fong Chi-wai wrote an op-ed article a week earlier predicting that adversity would befall the local workforce, hitting the most vulnerable groups, the unskilled low-paid workers as well as the aged and female workers.

As portrayed by Fong or the chamber, all adverse scenarios are exaggerating and empty bluffs. When trade unionists press for HK$33 per hour, business leaders lobby hard for setting the minimum wage at a fairly low level, much lower than the prevailing rate, ranging from HK$24 to HK$20 per hour behind the scenes.

It is ridiculous to see many leading business enterprises opposed to the plan while aspiring to win awards as caring companies and building good corporate images. As these companies make large, annual corporate donations they decline to be generous in their own houses by offering low-paid staff with decent salaries.

More appallingly, the chamber members unveiled their unwillingness to bear the additional cost of the minimum wage, saying they probably will pass it on to consumers.

The business leaders showed their reluctance and resistance in the 18-month Wage Protection Movement that led it to a setback. They are not perturbed by the hardship and grievances of low-paid employees and the working poor.

Over the past ten years, income-earners, in particular low-paid workers, have become frustrated, furious and discontented after finding their employers unwilling to share the fruits of economic gains, after enduring tremendous hardship in rounds of pay-cuts, trimming and redundancy during the Asian financial crisis, the economic recession and the latest financial downturn.

Despite the aggravating problem of increasing wealth disparity, the business leaders continue to live in their own nutshell, deflecting the plague to poverty-stricken low-income groups.

As reported in the media, celebrities, tycoons and senior officials of high society have continued to pursue their luxury living, boasting of their pursuits of luxury-brand products or expensive stocks of vintage red wine. For the low-paid workers, it is humiliating and outrageous to see their bosses who drink a vintage bottle that costs more than their monthly income but reject a slight increase of their wages.

It is pressing for those in power to comprehend that the underlying causes of the social discontent and frustration of the low-income group stem from the employers' indifference to pay employees decent and reasonable salaries. Frustration and discontent has grown among the low-income earners to the point that increasing income disparity and lagging upward social mobility has fermented anti-business sentiments, in particular among the younger generation.

The controversial minimum wage should not be treated as a matter of contention between employees and employers, the business sector and trade unionists. The government should take a leading role in forging a sensible and reasonable minimum wage rate, to avoid turning this well-intended legislation into another social dilemma.

Hong Kong people are peace-loving and kind-hearted and the city is immune to class struggles. But it is disturbing to see income and wealth disparity pushing our society to the brink of polarization and discord. Narrowing income disparity can help avert the spread of hostility and antagonism against business.

The author is a political commentator

(HK Edition 12/25/2009 page1)