Carrie Lam urges Hong Kong lawmakers to pass overdue labour bill to scrap MPF offsetting mechanism, citing ‘unexpected’ Legco hindrance
- She says the legislation has been discussed for more than a decade and officials had proactively attended sessions to answer queries
- Outgoing chief executive says there is still enough time in the two months left for her administration to fulfil election vow
Hong Kong’s outgoing leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has urged pro-establishment lawmakers to pass an overdue labour bill which will stop bosses from dipping into staff pensions, citing “unexpected” hindrance in the legislature.
Lam told a weekly press briefing on Tuesday that the bill to scrap the so-called offsetting mechanism in the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) – one of her election promises in 2017 – had been well-discussed over the past decade, with her officials proactively attending Legislative Council sessions to answer lawmakers’ queries.
“The so-called suspension we are seeing now is unexpected because it has been talked about comprehensively,” argued the chief executive, who has less than two months to the end of her term.
Lam said there was still enough time for the bill to be passed, given the pro-establishment line-up in Legco, returned last year from the first poll conducted under a “patriots-only”, Beijing-imposed electoral overhaul.
“This bill is less complicated than the one related to electoral changes, which only took 44 days from proposal to passage. We have seen the efficiency of Legco before,” Lam said. “It really depends on them.”
“We … urge lawmakers across parties and sectors to put labour rights first and pass the bill as soon as possible,” Lam pleaded.
The present mechanism allows employers to use money earmarked for pension funds to offset severance and long-service payments, or when staff are sacked or the company has closed down, an arrangement seen to favour bosses.
The government tabled the Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022 earlier this year to terminate the arrangement, while offering subsidies for employers.
But since March, some newly elected lawmakers have challenged the proposal in Legco, questioning whether the administration had provided adequate funding to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adjust to the potential changes.
Some also cited the poor economic situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic as reasons to call for suspending the legislation until the next administration, a move triggering opposition from eight labour unions.
Lam on Tuesday described the government as “wading in deep waters” by offering public funds to help employers, especially SMEs.
Lawmaker Bill Tang Ka-piu, of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), showed support for the bill on Tuesday, adding that SME owners need not worry about the timing of the legislation as they had three years to prepare before it would take effect in 2025.
Tang added that the government surplus in the last financial year proved the economic situation was still “pretty good”, as long as the pandemic remained stable. He urged authorities to seize the opportunity and waste no time as the bill had been in the making for over a decade.
“The bill is a long-term measure that we should not be lax about,” he told a radio programme. “Without this step, how can we deal with the problems stemming from our ageing population?”
On Tuesday, Lam was also asked what she would do to help restructure the government for the incoming administration, expected to be headed by John Lee Ka-chiu, her former chief secretary who quit his job last month to run as the sole candidate with Beijing’s blessing in the leadership poll.
She said her “position has been quite clear” since she floated the restructuring plan last year and introduced it to Legco this January.
Lam said she would move to seek approvals from Legco, once a candidate was elected on May 8 and had agreed to her restructuring model.
Earlier, she proposed to add two more bureaus to the current 13, creating a new one to oversee tourism, sports and cultural development.
The existing Transport and Housing Bureau will be split to focus on the two respective policy areas, while the Home Affairs Bureau shall be renamed as the home affairs and youth bureau, according to her earlier announcement.
“We have given our answer already that we are waiting for May 8, when the sixth chief executive election has been completed. We will provide the incoming Chief Executive’s Office with the documents, organisational charts, reasoning and financial impacts we have prepared,” she said on Tuesday, adding she was confident of getting these done before her term was up.
Her assurance came soon after the government appointed Daniel Cheng Chung-wai, former director of administration, to oversee the chief executive-elect’s office to “ensure a smooth transition”.
Additional reporting by Sammy Heung
