Labor rights that are not available until the birthday of the Buddha

01 view

Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2021-05-19 07:00

Last update date: 2021-05-19 07:00

The World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization (ILO) published a study on Monday (17th), and estimated that as many as 745,000 people worldwide died of stroke and heart disease related to long working hours in 2016, an increase of 19 respectively from 2000. % And 42%.

The WHO also pointed out that the long-term work of more people is obsolete due to the remote work brought about by the new crown epidemic.

In 1930, the economist Keynes asserted that with the advancement of science and technology and the increase of productivity, the work week of human beings would be reduced to 15 hours.

His rhetoric was obviously wrong. Not only did his dream fail to come true, the reality is that the number of long working hours and the number of unemployed have increased.

The WHO report points out that in 2016, 488 million people around the world worked at least 55 hours a week, which is equivalent to working 11 hours or more a day in a five-day work week.

Such long working hours resulted in 398,000 deaths from stroke and 347,000 deaths from heart disease.

Studies have pointed out that more men, middle-aged and elderly workers, and workers in East Asia and Southeast Asia suffer from long working hours.

There are countless surveys on long working hours, and statistics on the causes of death are also very common, but it is not necessarily easy to study the relationship between long working hours and the cause of death. The WHO report is the world's first analytical study on working hours and the cause of death.

In the past, local governments may be able to infer that the causality is difficult to determine and ignore the problems caused by working hours, but now it is clear that there is no excuse for it.

The question is whether the government will continue to ignore labor rights and favor the management?

Will society continue to allow migrant workers to be "chronic murder" by their jobs?

Take the Buddha's birthday on Wednesday (19th) as an example. For white-collar workers, this is a public holiday, but for blue-collar workers on "labor leave" it is a day to go to work.

Such unreasonable differential treatment has been criticized by the society for a long time. The plan proposed by the Lam Cheng government earlier turned out to be an increase of one labor holiday every two years during the Buddha’s birthday, Christmas and Easter from 2022 until 2030. Just completed the harmonization of labor leave and bank leave.

That is, adding a few days of holidays will take ten years to implement, which is extremely absurd.

As for standard working hours, Hong Kong has not yet established it.

There are many refusals from the employers. At one time, they said that working hours were difficult to measure, and at one time they were worried about weakening the competitiveness and flexibility of enterprises, and based their profits on the exploitation of labor.

In the face of conservative forces with vested interests, the government does not provide protection and backing for wage earners. It only promotes working hours guidelines. Eleven industries such as catering, construction, property management, and cleaning are the first to take the lead, and their effectiveness is doubtful.

Furthermore, the WHO's study on deaths from overwork is only as of 2016, and it is inferred that the new crown epidemic has caused more people to work remotely, and that remote work has blurred the line between family and work, and extended working hours in disguise.

Many companies have also reduced their manpower due to poor market conditions, and the remaining employees have to bear the workload of the laid-off employees, thus prolonging working hours and increasing the risk of death.

The WHO urges local governments to set working hours caps to protect the health of workers, but will Hong Kong officials be willing to listen?

Or continue to find all kinds of excuses to hide the ears and steal the bell?

In fact, many societies have already understood the health and social scourge of long working hours. In addition to standard working hours and collective bargaining rights, some people are even discussing offline rights today when the boundaries of work are blurred to ensure that employees can "really leave work."

The normal practice of caring about labor rights is to keep up with the needs of the times with the protection of innovation and innovation.

However, Hong Kong officials and managers seem to be the opposite, using various "difficulties" to push back reforms.

If the government does it unintentionally, I'm afraid that if the public waits for ten more Buddha's birthdays, it will be difficult for them to advance their work rights.

Good dad died suddenly while working, the government official was still pretending to sleep

How to protect the rights and interests of Pinduoduo employees suspected of overwork?

What is the enlightenment of Japan's Microsoft four-day work week for Hong Kong

The British Labour Party advocates 32 hours of work. Is Luo Zhiguang from Hong Kong still pretending to be asleep?

Standard Working Hours Working Hours Labor Protection Labor and Welfare Bureau Buddha's Birthday 01 Views