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The purpose of election has always been to allow the public to dissect, debate
and determine the direction society is heading. Do I agree with the policies
implemented? Am I pleased with what I see in the streets? Which policy should stay –
and which should go away? What problems demand our attention immediately? And
which controversy can be temporarily disregarded? These are the questions that
have been circling in the heads of voters and candidates as they strive to provide
answers of their own after careful consideration.
The answers Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions is offering are based
on its fundamental beliefs: Rice Bowl, Social Justice and Democracy.
Rice Bowl symbolizes one of the most essential aspects of our lives. It not only affects the living conditions of a worker and his/her family, it sometimes even makes the difference between hatred and happiness, between frustration and peace. Reality, however, paints a rather bleak picture of work. We see workers who cannot provide for their family even after toiling through long hours of work. Despite such plight, we also see inadequate legislation which not only does not protect workers but even exacerbates the worries, pressure and vexations they face every day. Worse still, as work gradually devours almost all other parts of life, people are also becoming slaves of their jobs. HKCTU believes that the government should base its policies on the rights to decent work, which include adequate employment opportunities, fair
income, an equal employer-employee relationship and a safe and healthy working environment. We believe that if these rights are realized, the worker’s dream of achieving a work life balance.
Social Justice “Support for the elderly, opportunity for the young, nurture for the child, and provision for the solitary, the sick and the widow” – this is the ideal that people have championed both near and afar across centuries. Unfortunately, the SAR government only views aid to the weak as charity to be considered only when its treasury shows a surplus. Even more baffling is the fact that our government even considers its responsibility to help the vulnerable as too heavy a burden. HKCTU firmly believes that the realization of social justice is a mark of civilization, a manifestation of conscience. We advocate that capable citizens should take care of classes with objectively worse living conditions, so that the vulnerable segments of society can also enjoy a dignified life. We also strive to promote equal opportunities and social mobility, so that poverty will no longer be a curse dooming grassroot families and every citizen in society can utilize his/her abilities and talents.
Democracy A fair and universal election is not only the right of every citizen,but also the foundation of competent governance and an equal society. The central government’s two-time rejection of Hong Kong people’s demand for universal
suffrage is not only unable to rectify the existing contradictions of our election system, but also allows classes with vested interests to maintain the privileges they have always enjoyed and deprives the government of the political legitimacy needed to lead Hong Kong. HKCTU stands firm in its support for universal suffrage in 2012 and its opposition to artificial democracy in 2017. We will also unite the people in monitoring the government in order to check administrative forces so that it will not act ruthlessly.
Anyone familiar with Hong Kong’s political system will be aware of the fact that the task of formulating policies is still monopolized by administrative bodies – indeed, how difficult it is for a Legislative Councillor to actualize her or his election platform. Nevertheless, we hope that you will not consider a candidate’s platform as meaningless slogans or empty promises. By making the following recommendations, we seek to establish a platform on which we can dissect, debate and determine the direction Hong Kong is heading. This is your reference for evaluating the performance of our Legislative Councillors, and also your first step in reclaiming your own destiny. |
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| Main policies |
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Institute a statutory minimum wage for workers of all sectors, and provide
subsidies to low-income families so that hard working is rewarded and that
jobs can provide for the family. In addition, before implementing a minimum
wage, we demand that the government extend the coverage of its Transport
Support Schemes so that low-income workers of all districts may enjoy this
benefits. |
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Regulate working hours, and legislate to mandate overtime pay for overtime
work, breaks after working continuously for 5 hours, daily minimum continued
rest time of 11 hours and a reduction in the working hours of night-shift workers.
In addition, legislation should also be amended to include all public holidays as
statutory labor holidays, so that workers may achieve work life balance. |
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Delete the “4.18” requirement from the Employment Ordinance to strengthen
protection for part-time workers. Moreover, improve relevant legislations and
mend their loopholes in order to prevent employers from evading their legal
responsibility with short-term employment contracts or self-employment
contracts. |
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The Labor Department should provide a one-stop service that includes legal
assistance to help workers reclaim wages in arrear. We also demand that the
government strengthen its enforcement of laws punishing employers who have
delayed payments. Employers’ defiance to the verdicts of the Labor Tribunal
should be criminalized and compelled to give additional compensations to the
workers affected. |
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To complement the Qualifications Framework system, vocational training
policies should be improved by implementing training leaves and subsidies for
on-the-job trainings. It should also be ensured that all workers enjoy
opportunities to acquire basic qualifications, and are capable of learning by
themselves to further enhance their qualifications. |
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To rectify and implement all ILO core conventions, so that the workers’ rights to
join unions and participate in strikes are protected and that unions can function
without interference from the government or employers. Legislation should
also realize workers’ right to collective bargaining. Moreover, follow-ups to the
government on its actions according to the conclusions and recommendations
made by the International Labor Organization (ILO) |
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| Promoting employment and development opportunities |
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Establish an employment impact assessment mechanism to assess the effects
of economic development strategies and government policies on the labor
market. Implement policies to ensure that local workers with different academic
and technical qualifications can all enjoy adequate and prioritized employment
opportunities. |
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By giving direct subsidies or contracts, aid the development of the local
recycling industry in order to create more employment opportunities for
grassroots workers. |
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Amend the government’s procurement policy so that government and public
departments will prioritize the purchase of local products. |
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Encourage organizations to provide on-the-job training for workers through tax
benefits and technical assistance. |
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Establish a contract system for training of youth workers so that youth workers
can enjoy opportunities to both training and work experience. |
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| Employment security and labor rights protection |
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Improve cooperation with the authority in the Mainland in the prevention of the
influx of illegal immigrant workers. |
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Protect workers against unfair dismissal. |
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Outlaw age discrimination in employment. |
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Compel government agencies, voluntary agencies and large corporations to
employ a designated ratio of disabled people. In addition, encourage other
organizations and companies to employ more disabled people. |
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Set up paternity leave and holidays for taking care of family members. |
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Reduce administrative costs of the Mandatory Provident Fund and allow
workers to choose fund managers. |
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| Occupational health and safety |
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Establish a statutory tripartite organization on occupational health and safety
and employees compensation. Its responsibilities will be to promote and
research on employment safety and health, handle employee applications for
compensations and enforce laws related to employment safety and health. |
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Implement policies to reduce injuries due to work. |
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Establish an Employment Safety and Employees' Compensation Fund, and
determine the necessary premium according to the result of risk assessment in
each industry. |
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Establish an Employees' Compensation Tribunal to settle disputes concerning
employee applications for compensations efficiently and fairly. |
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Encourage workers to participate in the formulation of policies regarding
employment safety and health within corporations and industries. In addition,
increase human power on prosecution of employers who have breached the
law. |
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Establish safety standards for all government construction projects, and
provide reward or penalty on safety performance of the contractors by
allocating 1% of the tender price of the construction project for this purpose. |
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| Rights of Workers in the Public Services |
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| Main policies |
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Advocate the financing of the SMEs, to cooperate with the “professional towns”
in the Mainland in order to develop Hong Kong as an exhibition city for the
Mainland brand-name goods enabling them going international. |
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Support legislation on fair competition and to set up a committee on fair
competition for research and dispute-settlement. |
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Advocate lowering the profit tax rate to 10% for all SMEs so that they will be
able to retain enough fund for further development. |
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Advocate for a portion of the investment return of the Foreign Exchange Fund
be transferred into the “Social Development and Investment Fund”, to be used
for supporting children development, lifelong learning and health care projects. |
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| Other platforms
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Demand the government to uphold the competitiveness of Hong Kong by
upgrading the education and technical quality of workers, improving the
judiciary and monitoring system and infrastructure. |
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Advocate increased coordination of all large scale infrastructure projects of the
Mainland and Hong Kong to avoid resources wastage and competition. |
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To strengthen the role of the government and related authorities in business
development overseas. |
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To provide tax incentive so as to promote research and innovations and staff
training among business corporations. |
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To promote diversification in the local financial market; and encourage banks
to assist in financing of potential businesses on a longer-term basis. |
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Advocate to strengthen monitoring of financial market to protect small
investors. |
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Demand review the existing fiscal policies, so that in the process of budgeting,
government may have the flexibility to set according to the prevailing
circumstances. |
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Demand government to allocate 1,500 million dollars from its current budget to
provide remedies to the social service deficits arising from budget cut during
past economic hard times and to increase spending on education, medical
care and other social welfare. |
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| Main policies |
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Advocate to set up a women committee with statutory power to formulate
women policies, to coordinate and monitor policies and measures of
government departments to ensure the implementation of the stipulations and
recommendations of the international standards and conventions such as the
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and
the Beijing Platform of Actions. |
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Demand to speed up provisions of flexi-child-care service, elderly service and
rehabilitation service, so as to lesson family burden faced by women. |
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Advocate for gender equality such as sharing of house work by all. |
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Implement “equal pay for work of equal value”. |
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Develop more diversified training and education programs suited to women’s
needs. |
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Demand amendment to Employment Ordinance so as to improve maternity
protection and employment security to women, and to increase penalty to
employers discriminating pregnant women. |
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To set up inter-department committee for handling sexual and family violent
cases such as providing a one-stop service to victims, and to review the
existing requirement on supplying evidence during dispute settlement. |
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To set up a complaint mechanism on sexual harassment at all government and
statutory bodies. |
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| Main policies |
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Integrate pre-primary children education as part of the education system and
to support it with subsidy. |
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Support 12 year compulsory and free education and to develop a
comprehensive policy for adult aiming to assist them to attain higher
secondary education standard or its equivalent |
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Implement full-day class among all primary schools an small-class teaching
arrangement all primary and secondary schools. |
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Advocate increased self-autonomy among schools so that they may have the
flexibility to adopt teaching methods deemed appropriate. |
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Enhance the right to choose of students and their parents and to equip them
with guidance so that they may attend schools deems appropriate. |
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Demand government subsidy to all associate degree students and to increase
the number of bridging degrees for these students. |
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Oppose government intervention in university operation and academic
freedom. |
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| Main policies |
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Increase old age allowance to $1,000 per month, to operate more elderly
homes and to provide formal training to all elderly home personal care
workers. |
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Review the level of CSSA according to the current basic needs of livelihood
and to revive the policy for elderly people to apply for CSSA when residing with
a family member. |
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Increase support to single-parent. |
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Assistance to newly-arrivals so as to promote their social integration and to
provide financial assistance to those children. |
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Develop "obstruction-free community" and provide half-fare transport subsidy
to all people with disability. |
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Set up unemployment insurance |
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Set up a two-tier retirement benefit system, with an old-age retirement benefit
as the main pillar supported by MPF or private provident schemes. |
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Abolish the “lump-sum grant” and oppose all forms of bidding favoring the
lowest tender. |
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| Main policies |
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Promote primary medical service, aiming on sickness prevention and health
promotion. |
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Demand government to commit to take responsibility of public health and
medical care, oppose to any ceiling to public spending in this area. |
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Ensure the inclusiveness of the system and hence oppose excluding the
middle-class from its coverage. |
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Provide financial subsidies and tax-reduction to chronic patients. |
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Half the medical expenses of all elderly people. |
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Cut working hours of all hospital staff to avoid accidents due to work fatigue. |
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Legislate on GM food labeling. |
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| Main policies |
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Government to maintain a regulated and continuous supply of land. |
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To revive building and sale of public housing. |
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Monitor the rental and management policy of the LINK, to advocate the
Housing Authority to fulfill its responsibility in ensuring adequate provisions of
recreational and other services to public housing residents. |
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Review the policy of developers to build and supervise public space, demand
the government implement the stipulations of related rules and regulations. |
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Oppose land reclamation at the Victoria Harbour. |
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Establish and enforce sound environmental protection policy. |
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| Main policies |
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Advocate "waste cut" as the priority approach, promote recycling and reuse of
waste, oppose to incendiary or land-fill methods in waste tackling. |
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Monitor indoor air quality. |
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Strengthen cooperation with Mainland authorities to tackle environment
concerns. |
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Set up measures to lower green house emission. |
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Support joint supply networks of the two power supply companies. |
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Support development of a mass-transport system as the backbone of the
transport system. |
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Advocate for prior approval by the Legco on fare increase of any form of public
transport. |
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Review the role of ferry services, to use direct or indirect subsidies to promote
quality services and reasonable rate. |
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| Main policies |
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Strengthen law enforcement to prevent animal cruelty, to legislate against
animal abandonment. |
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Improve pet sales and breeding arrangement. |
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Allocation of appropriate activity areas for animals. |
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