Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees Association says workers already anticipated closure, adding number of affected staff members expected to increase
About 200 employees of a 41-year-old Hong Kong bakery chain, known for its “snow skin” mooncakes, have sought help after the firm’s abrupt closure, a trade union has said, with debts snowballing to more than HK$38 million (US$4.8 million).
The Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees Association said on Wednesday that workers at Taipan Bread & Cakes had already anticipated a possible closure because the company had not recruited more employees for producing and packaging mooncakes in mid-June, when sales usually started, adding the number of affected staff members was expected to increase.
“Many staff members had worked there for a long time. They hoped the company was just handling cash flow issues, so they stayed to observe,” Nerine Yip Lau-ching, the association’s general secretary, told a radio programme.
According to Yip, the bakery chain had stopped paying wages since May and staff’s Mandatory Provident Fund for one to two months. But some workers opted to stay and see if the company would resolve its financing problems.
