Hong Kong labour groups and lawmakers urge progress on standard working hours laws

Labour concern groups have joined together to urge the government to set a clear direction on legislation for standard working hours.

The Alliance for Standard Working Hours, which represents 14 labour groups, joined nine pro-democratic parties in calling on the government to provide concrete details on legislation at a meeting of its Standard Working Hours Committee set for October 28.

The move comes amid divisions among the members of the committee, with six of them representing workers threatening to withdraw from the body last week if no further consensus is reached.

READ MORE: Two years of debate, still no agreement

Leung Yiu-chung, a lawmaker from the Neighbourhood and Worker’s Service Centre, said the members should stand firm in their defence of workers and break any relationship with the government.

Poon Man-hon, a spokesperson for the alliance, said more than 100 countries had implemented standard working hours. “Exemptions or appropriate arrangements have been made for different sectors [in other countries], but the [Hong Kong] government has still not considered any concrete plans,” Poon said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Sin Chung-kai said legislation might not be possible before the end of this Legislative Council term, which ends on September 30 next year.

“There might be lots of technical exemptions or individual arrangements involved. I think we should start the core discussion as soon as possible,” Sin said.