The fifth wave of the new crown epidemic and rising inflation have made it difficult for the working class on Labor Day.
The government must not only vigorously support workers through the difficult times, but also prepare for the changes in employment patterns brought about by the epidemic, especially to formulate regulations and codes for the increasingly prevalent home-office work model.
In the first quarter of this year, the economy was frozen by the epidemic, and the unemployed and underemployed people rose to nearly 190,000 and 120,000 respectively. Behind these 300,000 people were 300,000 families and hundreds of thousands of residents whose livelihoods were not guaranteed.
Even if citizens can keep their jobs, many of them are absent from work due to isolation and quarantine. In the event of a series of infections in their family members, the period of absence from work will be prolonged.
The government once said that it would revise the Employment Ordinance at a high speed to include paid sick leave for isolation and quarantine absences. However, it is still in the stage of deliberation by the Legislative Council, and there is no retrospective period. Employees have reduced their wages in disguised form in the past two or three months.
It is ironic that the demands under the epidemic will not be realized until after the epidemic.
The Census and Statistics Department announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.5% in December 2021 to February 2022 to 5.0% in January to March 2022, and the underemployment rate also rose from 2.3% to 3.1% .
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Inflation hits, working from home is common, and labor conditions have changed dramatically
It is true that the government's unemployment loans, assistance funds, consumer coupons, and subsidies for cleaning, security and nursing home staff under the epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic fund may relieve the public's temporary constraints, and the slowdown of the epidemic will also help the labor market stabilize.
However, the epidemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war have caused inflation to increase, but the salaries of the grassroots and even the middle class have no obvious upward momentum, which is hard to resist the impact of inflation.
In fact, the current cost of coal and electricity has soared, and the added wind is blowing even more to the grain and oil.
Even if it is difficult for the government to directly regulate commodity prices, it must start to reduce public service charges, moderately increase subsidies, and review the calculation methods of social assistance such as CSSA to help citizens withstand life adversity.
However, the above method also means that the government starts from the secondary distribution to improve people's lives. The primary distribution does not necessarily make progress. The minimum wage is still maintained at the level of 2019, and the inspection is maintained every two years, which obviously lags behind the price increase.
The epidemic has also brought about earth-shaking changes in work patterns, and working from home has become the norm.
Whether in Hong Kong or abroad, companies and employees are also considering maintaining home work or a mix of home and office work.
The advantages of working from home are flexible working hours, saving commute time, and taking care of household chores and child care.
There have been lawsuits in other places where accidents while working from home were found to be work-related injuries, but it may not be easy to prove work-related in every case.
Will employers require employees to report their whereabouts more carefully in the future, which in turn offsets the original intention of employees to work from home more freely.
In addition, although employers need to take into account the occupational safety and health of employees working from home, the home environment varies greatly. The government has not given clear instructions on how employers should perform their duties.
The reminders from the Occupational Safety and Health Council to encourage employees to pay attention to their sitting posture and to pay attention to eye rest are superficial and fail to convince employers and employees.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has changed the working mode, from working in the office to working at home, but the working hours have been prolonged in disguise.
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The current government needs to find a few, the next government needs to understand the way of politics
Occupational safety and health protection for civilian workers is important, as is health protection for construction, catering and other manual labor occupations.
In fact, most occupational injury cases are concentrated in this type of industry. In the first three quarters of last year, there were 193 industrial accident deaths, which was higher than the 173 in the same period of the previous year. However, the protection related to occupational injury has not been updated for many years, and the penalty has become more and more deterrent. lighter.
The current government proposed amendments at the last minute, but for very serious cases, the fine is only $10 million, which is 10% lower than the initially proposed turnover, and the maximum term of imprisonment is also reduced from three years to two years. , the fine does not reflect the severity of the accident.
Other than deferring to business pressure, the outside world sees no reason for the government to repeatedly lower the revised fine.
After Labor Day, the term of the current government has two months remaining, and the term is coming to an end, but officials should not let go, but instead take stock of any promises that have not been fulfilled.
In the field of labor, the first and foremost is to review with the Legislative Council legislative amendments related to epidemics and occupational injuries.
The only candidate for the election of the chief executive, Li Jiachao, recently released his political platform, mentioning the need to review and revise the "Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance" to strengthen occupational safety and security for workers.
Of course, labor rights are not limited to the matters mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Successive governments have left behind a lot of labor policies, including the removal of MPF hedging, regulation of working hours, and the platform economy.
Li Jiachao emphasized that governance is aimed at results. If reducing deep-seated conflicts in society and making society stable are the results of governance, then improving labor policies and distributing economic results more justly and equitably are the only ways to achieve the goal.
Labor rights and interests cannot be guaranteed after the epidemic
