Labour Day marchers demand all of Hong Kong’s public holidays be made mandatory

Labour unions and workers’ rights organisations took to the streets on Friday in a Labour Day march in which they called on the government to add five more statutory holidays to the current 12 a year.

Many Hong Kong workers enjoy time off on 17 public holidays a year, but according to the city’s labour laws, only 12 of those are statutory holidays, meaning employers can choose not to give their staff the day off on the other five.Before the start of the May Day march on Friday morning, Federation of Trade Unions chairman Stanley Ng Chau-pei said the provision was discriminatory.

“This is unfair for workers ... And it is artificially dividing the society,” the Beijing-loyalist union chief said.

On Thursday, the pan-democratic Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, who also represents the Confederation of Trade Unions, said he planned to table a personal bill in the Legislative Council to “unify” the statutory and public holidays.

Although they appear to be fighting for the same goal, Ng dropped a strong hint that the FTU’s six lawmakers would not support their political rival’s initiative.

Referring to the advisory body of which he is a member, Ng said “We are pushing for the unification [of the two holidays] in the Labour Advisory Board, and the government is starting to move, so I hope [a consensus can be reached there] before it comes to Legco.”

A spokesperson of the FTU expected at least 3,000 to join their march, from Southorn Playground in Wan Chai to the government headquarters at Tamar, Admiralty.