Labour activists fear a discussion on standard working hours will run into overtime, as government advisers refused on Friday to commit themselves to recommending legislation that will deal with the city's notoriously long work days. An advisory committee appointed by the government conceded the long hours had to be regulated, but its chairman, Leong Che-hung, would not say if that would equate to passing laws to enforce that. "I cannot give you an answer for that," Leong said yesterday, after the committee's first meeting of the year. Instead, the advisers - now two years into their three-year stint - have formed a new task force to discuss two consultation reports about the conditions of the city's army of around 3.9 million workers. According to local media, the reports indicated that about 728,000 workers work around 50 hours a week - five hours overtime - with 70 per cent not receiving extra pay. Leong will chair the task force. Other members include Federation of Trade Unions chairman Stanley Ng Chau-pei, Federation of Hong Kong Industries chairman Stanley Lau Chin-ho, and existing committee members. Leong said details of the reports had yet to be finalised, so the findings would not be released to the public for fear this might "stifle discussion". Labour groups worry the committee will fail to come out with an acceptable proposal by the end of its term in March next year. They criticised the committee for not releasing the preliminary consultation findings. Speaking on behalf of various labour group and union representatives, Yau Chi-hang said: "We worry whether they can finish public consultation and hand in a recommendation accepted by the working class in time. "For the committee members, producing a report or a recommendation a day earlier or later may not make a difference, but for the working class, it is yet another long day at work." Yau, together with a dozen other representatives, protested outside the committee's meeting place on Connaught Road, demanding the release of the first round of consultation results. They also handed a letter to Leong, who responded by saying: "I will make sure we hand in a policy recommendation."
