UNIONIST legislators are to push for a series of significant improvements to workers' benefits and union rights.
Lee Cheuk-yan, chief executive of the Confederation of Trade Unions, yesterday outlined 16 legislative proposals which he hoped could become law in the next two years.
He said the Government had always adopted a piecemeal and passive approach towards improving labour law.
Hong Kong, being economically advanced, could well afford better protection for workers, an area where it lagged far behind many Asian countries.
'We are not asking for drastic changes,' he said.
Laws to ensure the rights of workers should be commensurate with the territory's economic developments.
Necessary changes included scrapping the requirement that a union should get Executive Council approval before joining its international counterpart; allowing cross-industry unions to register as unions; and giving them the right of collective bargaining.
