Compromise on Hong Kong working hours finally in sight as unionists propose 44-hour work week
Group submits report to chief executive amid split within Standard Working Hours Committee
Hong Kong’s drawn out and often contentious efforts to standardise working hours appear to be finally bearing fruit, with labour unionists meeting the city’s leader on Wednesday to offer a compromise at 44 hours a week.
The government responded with Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung extending this month’s deadline for the Standard Working Hours Committee to submit its final recommendations, giving it two more months to study the labour sector’s consultation report.
“The chief executive did not tell us if he would be able to standardise working hours within his term. But the labour sector will continue the fight,” Federation of Trade Unions chairman Stanley Ng Chau-pei said after the 45-minute meeting, although he described Leung Chun-ying’s response as “positive”.
Leung is under pressure to settle the matter within this term, as he had promised to follow up on the matter in his election manifesto, and unionists are hoping his possible bid for a second term next March will spur him to get it done.
In calling for a standardised 44 hours a week on Wednesday, the labour representatives also conceded the goal could be reached “in phases”. They have long demanded legislation to make it 40-44 hours, and for employers to pay staff an additional amount 1.5 times their regular wages for every extra hour.