Apple Daily executives will write to Hong Kong’s security minister on Monday to request that some of the company’s assets be unfrozen so staff members can be paid.

Next Digital, the parent company of Apple Daily, reportedly held a board of directors meeting on Saturday to discuss a plan for salary payments after the assets of three of its associated companies were frozen on Thursday. The freeze affected not only salary payments but also the newspaper’s printing operation.

It has been reported that Next Digital only has enough cash to continue normal operations for several weeks.

If the application to Hong Kong’s security secretary, John Lee, is unsuccessful, the next step is expected to be an application to the court. Next Digital’s regular payday comes at the end of each month, which leaves fewer than 10 days before the company is at risk of violating labor laws due to salary arrears.

Mismanagement leading to debts was usually the cause for a company being unable to pay salaries due to frozen assets, said Mung Siu-tat, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. In Next Digital’s case, however, the company wants to pay salaries and has enough capital to do so, but could not because its assets were frozen, Mung said, adding that the situation was “unheard of.”

Even though Lee issued a freezing order, he cannot disregard the livelihood of Next Digital’s employees, Mung said. Mung added that the freezing order meant that the security secretary had effectively created the issue of salary arrears through his own actions, and it should be his responsibility to deal with it.

The trade union for Next Digital employees said it understood the company’s current predicament and hoped that there would be a resolution as soon as possible.

On Thursday, HK$18 million (US$2.3 million) worth of assets held by three Next Digital companies were frozen. A police notification warned that no one could deal with the frozen assets.

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