Workers lacking Chinese skills are being denied chance to advance, say activists
The government has been accused of indirect discrimination for not providing English-language courses and information for ethnic minority construction workers seeking to advance their careers.
Fony Chow Sau-fong, executive director of Unison, an NGO advocating ethnic minority rights, said many South Asian construction workers were unaware of the Construction Workers Registration System introduced last December.
It requires all construction workers to be registered with a new authority and sets up a three-tier system accrediting the workers as skilled, semi-skilled or general workers.
The information has been publicised in Chinese and most training courses are conducted in Cantonese, meaning ethnic minority workers face barriers to improving their rankings and earning higher wages.
'Given ethnic minorities construction workers are lacking vocational training opportunities, we suspect this system indirectly discriminates against ethnic minority construction workers,' Ms Chow said.
Unison estimates that up to 40 per cent of Nepalese and Pakistani workers in Hong Kong are in the construction industry. Official estimates put about 12,000 Nepalese in Hong Kong, but unofficial estimates reach up to 20,000.
