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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2020-10-10 06:00
Last update date: 2020-10-10 06:00
Earlier this year, the government announced ten relief measures to benefit the people, including the gradual increase in statutory holidays commonly known as labor leave.
According to reports, the government plans to increase the statutory labor leave from 12 days to 17 days in ten years, which is in line with the public holidays commonly known as bank holidays, and does not grant employer subsidies.
Employers living in the same society, even if they are in different social strata, but are contributing to the society at the same time, should enjoy the same vacation.
Although employers have to pay extra costs for increasing holidays, they cannot underestimate the extra benefits.
In this regard, the government must implement holiday equality as soon as possible without delay for ten years.
In the early days of colonization, Hong Kong’s holiday system originally only covered the banking industry and not all employees, so it was called bank leave. Later, it was gradually extended to the government, public departments and educational institutions.
It was not until 1961 that the British Hong Kong government legislated to provide employees in the industrial sector with six paid statutory holidays, so it is called labor leave. Since then, Hong Kong has implemented two sets of holiday systems.
Since 1967, Hong Kong has maintained a 17-day public holiday, but after the labor holiday was increased to 12 days in 1999, no further credit has been made.
Although many companies attract talents and allow employees to take bank holidays, they are not legally binding after all.
A government survey in 2011 pointed out that only less than 30% of grassroots employees are on public holidays, and quite a few of them come from occupations such as catering, property management, security, and cleaning.
They cannot enjoy Easter, Buddha's birthday, and the day following Christmas with their children, which reinforces the impression that grassroots workers are treated poorly.
At present, the holidays for working employees can be divided into two types: statutory holidays (labor holidays) and general holidays (bank holidays).
(Profile picture)
Employers' exaggerated influence the government ignores
Since the 1980s, labor groups have strived to keep up with bank holidays, but employer groups have been opposed to it. The reasons include increasing labor costs, exacerbating labor shortages, foreign domestic helpers and employers having to take extra time to do housework, and the number of statutory holidays in Hong Kong is no less than that of neighboring economies. About ten days.
In the current economic recession, the burden on capital should not be increased.
The government once estimated that according to the salary level in 2011, the additional five days of statutory holidays are expected to increase the cost of 1.83 billion yuan each year. Even if prices have risen in recent years, the financial impact is by no means like a catastrophe described by the management.
Of course, adding statutory holidays will cause some inconvenience to employers of foreign domestic helpers who are unable to take a holiday on that day. This requires negotiation between the employer and the employer and flexible allocation of rest days.
Moreover, holidays will stimulate consumption and the business community will also benefit from them.
The management emphasized that there are a lot of statutory holidays, but if you consider paid annual leave, Hong Kong employees actually don't have much paid leave.
The statutory paid annual leave is only seven days, which is less than 10 to 20 days in advanced economies.
If the paid annual leave and statutory holidays are combined, there are 20 to 30 days of holidays in other places. Hong Kong currently has 19 days. After the increase, there will be 24 days. This is not an exaggeration.
Labor protection in Hong Kong is weak. The government should have been obliged to balance the power of labor and capital. However, officials have been shrinking for a long time, and labor and management have been unable to reach a consensus and maintain two sets of holiday systems.
It was not until the election of the Chief Executive in 2012 that Tang Yingnian included the increase of statutory labor holidays to 17 days in the election platform of the Chief Executive.
Although Tang Yingnian was unable to implement his political platform after losing the election, what about his opponent Liang Zhenying?
During his tenure in 2015, it was rumored that the government was studying the implementation of a uniform holiday, adding one day a year, but in the end it was still nothing.
The government announced that it will gradually increase labor holidays until it coincides with general holidays, but it has not implemented a timetable.
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The 10-year transition period is too long and the workers are better treated
Five years later, after Hong Kong experienced the turmoil of legislative amendments, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced at the beginning of this year ten measures to benefit the people, some of which have been implemented, such as providing cash allowances for non-public housing and non-CSSA low-income households, but adding statutory holidays There is no timetable and road map.
Even if the news is true, the government can't talk about implementing ethical governance. After all, the pace of ten years is too slow. If the last change in 1999, wage earners will have to wait 30 years before they can enjoy all public holidays.
The new crown pneumonia pandemic has undoubtedly hit all walks of life, but during the epidemic, the cleaning, property management, security, and catering staff mentioned above maintain the most basic operations of the society, and they are called "essential employees" in other places. workers).
Since it is so necessary, they deserve better working conditions. They also need more rest to regain their energy and strength. It is reasonable to increase their vacation.
The Lam Cheng government would like to thank the blue-collar employees for their hard work, so they can no longer fail their expectations, standardize the holiday system as soon as possible, and implement all measures to benefit the people.
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