Employment Guarantee｜The union accuses the property management company of substituting new recruits for senior security guards to earn the difference in funding

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Written by: Ma Weijie

2020-10-09 14:49

Last update date: 2020-10-09 14:50

Legislative Council Member Lu Songxiong said today (10th) that security guards have been receiving requests for help from the "Property Management Support Plan" and the "Property Management Support Plan" and the "Property Management Support Plan", saying that the "Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance" in the "Property Management Support Plan" lacks transparency. , It is difficult to check the status of the application; while the "Ensure Employment" program has workers who pointed out that the security company forced high-paid employees to quit for different reasons, and then hired employees with a lower salary to earn the difference.

Lu Songxiong suggested that the government should increase the transparency of the "Property Management Support Program" so that workers can check the status of their applications, so that they can ask companies or owners for their "anti-epidemic hard work allowance." The company that dismissed its employees to prevent the “old for new” situation.

In order to assist citizens in coping with the epidemic, the government has introduced a series of subsidy measures to help citizens tide over difficulties.

The "Property Management Support Plan" and the "Property Guarantee" plan have been criticized since their launch, citing loopholes.

Member of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Trade Unions Lu Chung-hsiung and the Hong Kong Security and Property Management Practitioners Association pointed out that in recent months, they have been receiving complaints from security guards about the "Property Management Support Scheme" and the "Property Management Support Scheme". There has been no response to the plan; the "Ensure Employment" plan uses the "old-for-new" method in disguise to save costs.

The chairman of the labor union, Mai Yichang, pointed out that under the economic downturn, some security companies hired a large number of newly-licensed employees at lower salaries after dismissing employees. In this way, they maintained the "promising number of salaried employees" and earned " Price difference".

(Photo by Ma Weijie)

Asking the Bureau of Property Supervision has never received a response

According to the "Property Management Support Program", each eligible building can apply for "Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance" for 100 subsidies, and the employer shall submit a list of frontline security guards to the Bureau of Property Supervision. Only the security guards on the list can get 1,000 per month. Yuan’s "anti-epidemic hard work allowance."

However, the "Property Management Support Program" has been criticized for its lack of transparency.

If the security guards suspect that the property management company or the owner's organization refuses to pay the employees after applying for the "anti-epidemic labor application allowance", the security guards can check with the Bureau of Property Supervision whether the employer has assisted them in applying for the support plan.

However, the labor union and security guards have been having difficulty contacting the Bureau of Property Supervision. Enquiries have been forwarded to the message box for a long time, and faxes and e-mails have not received any reply. Lu Songxiong criticized the Bureau of Property Supervision for its lack of contact information.

Lu Songxiong suggested that the government should increase the transparency of the "Property Management Support Program" so that workers can inquire about the status of their applications, so that they can ask companies or owners for their "anti-epidemic hard work allowance."

Lu Songxiong suggested that the government should increase the transparency of the "Property Management Support Program" so that workers can inquire about the status of their applications, so that they can ask companies or owners for their "anti-epidemic hard work allowance."

(Photo by Ma Weijie)

Employers earn subsidies by "trade-in" and force old employees to leave

Lu Songxiong and the labor union also pointed out that after discovering that many security companies had successfully applied for the first and second phases of the "Ensure Employment" program, they dismissed a large number of frontline security guards. The labor union suspected that the security companies took the opportunity to "replace the old with the new" to earn the difference in subsidies.

According to the "Ensure Employment" plan, employers only need to maintain the "promising number of salaried employees" before they can apply for the employment insurance plan for a "specified month" salary.

Union Chairman Mai Yichang pointed out that in the economic downturn, a large number of citizens have changed jobs to security guards, and the number of holders of valid permits has increased by 26,000 (8.4%) compared with 2019.

The union found that after dismissing employees, the security company hired a large number of newly-licensed employees at lower salaries, and fired a large number of security guards with higher salaries and a certain number of years. In this way, they maintained the "commitment to the number of salaried employees." Earn the "price difference" by "trade-in".

The frontline security guard under the pseudonym Mr. A said that because he was late for one time, he was asked to "stay for 7 minutes" during which he was not allowed to drink water or go to the toilet to force him to leave.

(Photo by Ma Weijie)

The frontline security guard under the pseudonym Mr. A said that the company forced him and his colleagues to resign for various reasons.

He claimed that because he was late for one time, he was asked to "stay for 7 minutes" during which time he was not allowed to drink water or go to the toilet. Mr. A said that he was "unable to reach" because of his old age, so he resigned.

He also stated that a colleague was dismissed for "reducing masks."

Lu Songxiong believes that security companies use different reasons to force employees to voluntarily resign in order to "trade in old" to earn subsidies.

Lu suggested that the Bureau of Property Management should increase application transparency, such as telephone enquiry hotlines and online inquiries, so that security guards can inquire about the Bureau of Property Supervision and the security company for their "anti-epidemic hard work allowance"; the "Protected Employment" plan requires labor and The Welfare Bureau investigates the "old-for-new" situation of security companies as soon as possible, especially the companies that have increased the number of dismissed employees, and investigates related companies with "old-for-new" situations.

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