Government won't stall over report on city's working hours, minister vows
Labour and welfare secretary pledges to act on advisory committee's report on working week if its recommendations are 'highly practicable'
Giving the strongest commitment yet on tackling the issue of long working hours, the labour and welfare minister has pledged that the government will not adopt stalling tactics once it receives a report from an advisory committee at the end of the year.
Matthew Cheung Kin-chung made the remarks in an interview with the Post yesterday after a consultation report submitted to the standard working hours committee last week found that 23 per cent of the city's working population toil for 51.5 hours a week or longer. It also came as the committee was accused of stalling after another task force was set up from within its ranks to further discuss the report.
The secretary for labour and welfare said he expected the committee's report to include not just simply directions on how to tackle long working hours, but proposals as well.
"If everything in the report is clear, and everyone thinks it is highly practicable, there is no reason for the government to stall … if there is a consensus that it is an acceptable option, why don't we do it?" Cheung said. He also said that the task force set up within the committee was more like a "focus group" to do follow-up work on the consultation report in more depth.
Unions and labour groups have been calling for a 40- to 44-hour working week, with workers paid 1.5 times their usual wage rate for overtime. Employers have been more reluctant.