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Written by: Chen Xunlin
2020-12-28 15:22
Last update date: 2020-12-28 15:22
Hong Kong was originally on the road to full employment, but an epidemic was like a huge rock falling from the sky. It not only knocked down Hong Kong's economic employment, but also cut off the livelihoods of many citizens.
What is even more horrible is that even if the government spends more than 100 billion yuan in aid, the grassroots, especially the unemployed, are still suffering.
Recently, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Zhang Jianzong, responded to the government’s no intention to launch the "Protected Employment" program and stated that the government expects employers to share the subsidy received with employees.
Can both parties really "see the truth in adversity" as the Secretary said, or can we only share prosperity and not adversity?
The unemployment problem in Hong Kong continues to deteriorate. Why can't the government prescribe the right medicine?
(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
"Employers are taking subsidies while exploiting workers. These behaviors are acquiesced by the government." Wu Min'er, chairman of the Trade Union Union, made such a footnote for the government's inaction this year.
On the day of the visit, Wu Miner's itinerary was densely arranged, meeting in the morning to handle official duties, and after she was on the street in the afternoon, she would host a show on the radio in the evening to discuss issues such as unemployment, retraining, and interview some retraining instructors and trainees.
Wu Miner said that compared with previous years, she received many more requests for help this year than before. She was born in the aviation industry and has been accustomed to organizing labor unions and fighting for labor rights. However, many employers' actions this year, It subverted her imagination.
She still remembers that at the beginning of the epidemic, the cases of seeking help were mainly about forced unpaid leave. Many employees were too kind and underestimated the prolonged epidemic, thinking that unpaid leave would be enough for just a few days, so there was no bargaining. Protect yourself, but later on, it was unreasonable.
In the middle of this year, Wu Miner received help from the waiter of the tour bus company at the street station, saying that the agreement stipulated that the employee will take unpaid leave from April 1 until "the tourism industry has improved." Therefore, he has not gone to work. For more than a month, in desperation, I could only find a friend to help.
That paper agreement not only highlighted the employees' lack of awareness and awareness of labor rights, but also exposed employers' endless ways to exploit employees.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has almost shut down the world, and Hong Kong, which is highly dependent on external economic activities, has naturally been hit hard, leading to the closure of enterprises and unemployment of employees.
However, the government has invested 200 billion yuan to launch the epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic fund. Why is it still a stalemate?
Why does the enterprise's exploitation of employees and the plight of the unemployed recur?
Wu Miner, chairman of the Trade Union Union, believes that the government has always favored the capital and has not perfected labor protection.
(Photo by Gao Zhongming)
The job-guarantee program does not live up to its name
Among the anti-epidemic funds, the most relevant to employees is the six-month job guarantee plan.
The plan came into the public eye for the first time in April this year. At that time, the Secretary for Labor and Welfare, Luo Zhiguang, said on a TV program that employers would increase their manpower or increase manpower for receiving allowances.
Wu Min'er remembered these remarks still fresh, and thought it was misleading: "I believe everyone had a hope at the time, but as an employer, how can I give you a (allowance)?"
At the beginning of the plan, the government budgeted 80 billion yuan to benefit 260,000 employers and 1.7 million employees who contributed to MPF and participated in occupational retirement schemes, and about 215,000 self-employed who participated in MPF contributions person.
In an interview with the media recently, Luo Zhiguang mentioned that according to preliminary estimates, about 90 billion yuan of wage subsidies have been distributed in the two rounds of employment guarantee programs.
The job-guarantee program has been over-expended, but has the public’s jobs saved?
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Hong Kong continues to be high. The unemployment rate has risen from about 3.3% before the outbreak of the epidemic to 6.3%. The unemployed population reached 244,000. The latest underemployment rate is 3.4%, that is, 133,000 are underemployed. .
Unable to keep employment, the income of wage earners is naturally unsustainable.
The Employment Guarantee Program has not directly benefited the wage earners.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Li Zetong)
Since the epidemic, the Trade Union has held press conferences almost every month. As a representative, Wu Min'er has attended different trade unions to record moves even more.
Each press conference focuses on labor protection and employment protection issues: the new crown pneumonia is required to be listed as an occupational disease, and the disclosure of wage deductions and leave deductions. There are also many questions about employers and the government. Among them, short-term unemployment is the most concerned. Aid has become a common demand across parties, but the government has turned a blind eye to it: "The government says that unemployment assistance will become a long-term burden, so it considers it inappropriate; and when short-term measures are mentioned, the government will ask you to get CSSA." It is helpless to say that CSSA is a safety net for people desperate, but when the unemployment problem becomes widespread and persistent, it cannot be used as a solution.
What's more, the threshold for applying for CSSA is very high, and it takes almost all of their savings to qualify. "The government often asks the unemployed to get CSSA, but many people cannot get it because they are not poor enough. No food to eat.” And indeed, there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed people. Unemployed CSSA cases have increased by about 55% over the same period last year, but there are still less than 20,000 cases. It is conceivable that CSSA alone cannot solve the epidemic. Livelihood problems caused by disease.
Wu Miner said that in some cases, help seekers faced serial exploitation: first they asked for unpaid leave and then resumed work with a reduced salary. In the end, they could not escape the layoff, but they used the latest salary as the basis for calculating compensation. "The problem now is one link. It spreads one after another, how can you only help employers?” In addition to the employment protection plan, the Epidemic Prevention and Anti-epidemic Fund also has a lot of subsidies for specific industries. Enterprises only need to provide the required documents such as business registration certificates. You can get subsidies: "You are lenient to employers, why can't you treat employees equally leniently?"
Recently, many labor groups have frequently held press conferences to reflect the plight of the labor class under the epidemic.
(Data Picture/Photo by Gao Zhongming)
The government's appearance under the epidemic
In fact, many organizations, including the trade unions, have long studied and appealed. For example, the government has allocated a quarter of the 80 billion yuan of employment protection budget, or about 20 billion yuan, to establish a short-term unemployment assistance system based on the income of Hong Kong employees. Calculating the aid amount by the median can help the unemployed to tide over the difficulties. Unfortunately, the government is still bound by the extremely laissez-faire doctrine of free economics and believes in the "drip effect", believing that paying huge amounts of public money to enterprises can make it work. However, many loopholes in a disguised way encourage companies to squeeze their employees and make profits from companies that have not suffered losses due to the epidemic.
Wu Miner described that in the past, business operations were difficult. Many employers started to cut costs, cut expenses, and lay off employees to stop the bleeding. Under the Employment Guarantee Program, many companies continued to use unpaid leave and other reasons to delay dismissal, and employees became employees. For example, Cathay Pacific applied for 458 million yuan in the first round of the employment guarantee plan and promised to hire 17,703 people, but then gave up applying for the second round of the plan. Not only was it mass layoffs, but it also revised the terms of the new contract. Salaries and wages are capped, and collective bargaining rights are also cancelled.
The labor protection policies implemented by the government in recent years, such as the cancellation of the MPF hedging and the increase of paternity leave, have been striving for many years to see results, but the policy arrangements are all inclined to the employers and to please employers.
As for the entire anti-epidemic project, Wu Miner said frankly that at the economic and labor-management levels, there was also a large number of political operations, and most of the decision-making and resource allocation rights were placed in the hands of consortia and employers. "I don’t see the government intends to remove the public from It was rescued in dire straits; I saw that the government tried its best to perfuse those who had not run out of ammunition and food. Whenever resources need to be allocated, the Hong Kong government is the first to favor consortia and employers, but other areas directly support those in need." Wu Miner It is believed that there are many arrangements similar to employment protection schemes all over the world, but Hong Kong’s schemes are full of loopholes and easy to be abused. Apart from failing to accurately support employees, they have changed from employment protection to enterprise protection. It will wear down the public's trust in the government, and make people's grievances deepen.
Cathay Pacific applied for 458 million yuan in the first round of the employment guarantee plan, but then gave up applying for the second round of large-scale layoffs, and even capped the salary and salary of the new contract.
The picture shows that on November 3, the Cathay Pacific Air Service Staff Union held an emergency membership meeting.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
The Hong Kong government has always held high "subsidyism" and is unwilling to start reforms from the system. Therefore, there are many arguments to preclude the establishment of aid funds: long-term heavy burdens, high administrative costs, long review times, etc., indirectly caused the loss of the epidemic. The wage earners have nowhere to ask for help.
Wu Miner believes that under the epidemic, the public sees the truth, "When political disputes become serious, many people criticize the opposition for opposing opposition. What about the establishment now? The reality is that it is not the establishment or the pan-people. It’s a party issue, but the government is not doing well in dealing with social issues.” In the past year, no matter how many press conferences the cross-party trade unions hold and how many policies they propose, except for minor repairs and minor changes, such as the addition of properties. Management of subsidies for the industry’s anti-epidemic support program and relaxation of the qualifications for construction workers, other proposals have obviously been coldly treated by the government.
Wu Miner believes that reform is a process of dripping water through rocks, so when defending rights, we may not feel very confused: "We have never thought that we will change suddenly when we speak out, but we have to continue to speak out, not for the answer tomorrow, but We know this is wrong, so we have to stand up and speak up.” Looking to the future, Miner Wu said that 2021 is still a year of struggling for survival. The economic environment will not change much for the time being, and there may be more workers who need to help themselves and each other. Help, "But we will not stop, but will ask the government to be more responsible."
[Hong Kong people are tired] Yuan Guoyong is also tired from the inability of the Hong Kong government to prevent the epidemic
The above was published in the 246th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (December 28, 2020) "The Cry of the Workers Can the Government Hear? ". If you want to read the full text, please
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Selected content of 246 issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly:
[Cover story] tearing, turmoil, epidemic, recession...Hong Kong people are tired
The Hong Kong government fails to prevent the epidemic, and Yuan Guoyong is also tired
Where will the controversy in the education sector go after the turmoil?
Classes are suspended for three times due to the epidemic
[Go upstairs.
Parasites] Seoul's property price rises top global real estate market chaos
Tracing the source of the epidemic, Europeans spend Christmas in isolation
The death of the famous Sinologist Fu Gaoyi puts aside Western prejudices and treats China honestly
01 Weekly report in-depth report on the Labor and Welfare Bureau of the Workers’ Union