fawfafwwfacfawfafawfaefefaferhgrjgrgjirgjrijigrgijrigjjgj;rgjkljh jfjgkjgjijeiigjihirijgiejhehijrgjihrhrhrHong Kong had some legislation relating to the minimum wage as early as 1932; the Governor was granted the right, but was not obliged, to establish a minimum wage.[1] The Trade Boards Ordinance also gave the governor (and after 1997, the Chief Executive) the power to set minimum wages for piece-rate and time-rate work, and established penalties for non-compliance.[6] However, no governor exercised these powers.[1] In 2006, legislators floated a proposal for a voluntary minimum wage.[1] The executive branch formed a Minimum Wage Provisional Commission in February 2009 to research and eventually set a proposed wage floor.[7]
More debate came about on the possibility of a minimum wage in 2010. Legislator Tommy Cheung, who represents the catering functional constituency, suggested that the minimum wage be no greater than HK$20.[8] This earned him the derogatory nickname "Twenty-dollar Cheung".[fn 1] He later amended his proposal to HK$24.[9] Lam Woon-kwong of the Equal Opportunities Commission also indicated he had no objection to a lower minimum wage for disabled people.[10] Chief Executive Donald Tsang was opposed to the whole concept of a minimum wage, according to legislator Lee Cheuk-yan of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. Other voices of opposition included the free-market think tank Lion Rock Institute, as well as Miriam Lau of the Liberal Party, who gave estimates that between 30,000 and 170,000 jobs would be lost as a result of the proposal, depending on the wage adopted.[1]