Workers united, but unions are split on holiday reform
FTU says Labour Advisory Board will clear way to standard paid days off, but rival lawmaker is determined to push his own bill through Legco
As the city's two leading labour groups marched for workers' rights yesterday, a rift was revealed in their fight to achieve standard paid holidays.
Both the Beijing-loyalist Federation of Trade Unions and the pan-democratic Confederation of Trade Unions feel aggrieved that while many workers enjoy 17 public holidays a year, under the labour laws only 12 are statutory holidays - meaning employers can choose not to give staff the day off on the other five.
Before the Labour Day march yesterday, FTU chairman Stanley Ng Chau-pei said the provision was discriminatory. "This is unfair for workers … And it is artificially dividing society," he said.
But he dropped a strong hint that the FTU's six lawmakers would not support CTU-backed lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan's plan to draft a personal Legislative Council bill to "unify" the statutory and public holidays.
Referring to the 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."
However, as Lee led the CTU's Labour Day march from Victoria Park to the government's headquarters at Admiralty in the afternoon, he accused the board of dragging its feet and insisted his plan would work.
Lee, of the Labour Party, said his understanding was that "the government has stopped its work as there is no consensus in the board, and we don't know how long we have to wait for the board [to endorse the plan]".
"As there are six employers' [representatives] on the board, the plan will be blocked by them," Lee said. Legco would approve his bill "immediately" if the government agreed with it.
While the difference on holiday arrangements took centre stage, the CTU's biggest demand yesterday was that the government introduce a law on a 44-hour standard working week.
Organisers said there were about 3,400 people at the start of the CTU rally, while a spokesman for the FTU said 3,500 joined their march from Southorn Playground in Wan Chai to the government offices.
The FTU has previously called for the government to enact legislation to standardise a 44-hour working week.
Joining the CTU's march, Lawrence Lee, a 54-year-old bus driver, said a law on working hours was necessary as he often did overtime. "Our minimum daily working hours are eight, but usually I have to work at least 10 hours a day," Lee said.
In a statement, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the government "attaches great importance to protecting statutory labour rights and is committed to improving employees' benefits".
On standard working hours, Cheung said a committee was trying to build consensus on the way forward and aimed to submit a report to the government in the first quarter of next year.
About 1,000 Indonesian and Filipino domestic workers also took to the streets as they pressed for a rise in their minimum wage from HK$4,110 to HK$4,500.
